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AND MONOGRAPHS 




HEYE FOUNDATION 



INDIAN NOTES 
AND MONOGRAPHS 

Edited by F. W. Hodge 




A SERIES OF PUBLICA- 
TIONS RELATING TO THE 
AMERICAN ABORIGINES 



INDIAN PATHS IN THE GREAT 
METROPOLIS 



BY 



REGINALD PELHAM BOLTON 



NEW YORK 

MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN 
HE YE FOUNDATION 

1922 






This series of Indian Notes and Mono- 
graphs is devoted primarily to the publica- 
tion of the result of studies by members of 
the staff of the Museum of the American 
Indian, Heye Foundation, and is uniform 
with Hispanic Notes and Monographs, 
published by the Hispanic Society of 
America, with which organization this 
Museum is in cordial cooperation. 

Only the first ten volumes of Indian 
Notes and Monographs are numbered. 
The unnumbered parts may readily be deter- 
mined by consulting the List of Publications 
issued as one of the series. 



■■?■- 



OCT 



INDIAN PATHS IN THE 
GREAT METROPOLIS 



BY 

REGINALD PELHAM BOLTON 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I. Introduction 15 

II. Manhattan,. its paths and settlements 35 

III. Upper Manhattan paths 68 

IV. Paths in the Bronx 90 

V. Indian paths in Kings county 129 

VI. The Home-lands of the Canarsee. . . 147 
VII. Native paths in the Borough of 

Queens 171 

VIII. Richmond paths 187 

IX. Paths in nearby New Jersey 197 

Notes 207 

Bibliography 212 

Maps consulted 217 

Index of Stations 220 

Index of Proper Names 242 



INDIAN NOTES 



ILLUSTRATIONS 
Plates 

PAGE 

I. Jeffreys hook, now known as Fort 

Washington point 78 

II. An Indian path, the trail through 

Shorakapkok 80 

III. Rock-shelters at Shorakapkok, 

the Inwood village 82 

IV. Indian burial of a dog at Shora- 

kapkok 84 

V. Indian woman and child in a 

grave at Shorakapkok 86 

VI. The Wading place at Kings- 
bridge 88 

VII. The Albany Post-road, once the 

Hudson River path 94, 

VIII. The Mosholu, below Spuyten 

Duyvil hill 96 

IX. Acqueegenom, the crossing place 
of the Westchester path over 

Bronx river 104 

X. Weir creek Indian village-site, 

Throgs neck 112 

XL Foreshore of Weir creek Indian 

village-site, Throgs neck 114 

XII. Van Cortlandt avenue, once the 

Indian Shore path 116 



</ 






INDIAN NOTES 



ILLUSTRATIONS 


7 


XIII. Acqueanounck, the Hutchinson 






river, where the Shore path 








120 




XIV. The old Eastchester and West- 






chester road, once the Indian 






trail from the Siwanoy settle- 






ments 


122 




XV. The Split-reck road in Pelham 






Bay Park near the site of the 






house of Mistress Ann Hutch- 








124 




XVI. Excavation of Indian shell and 






rubbish heap on Rodmans neck 






or Pells point 


128 


£, 


XVII. Old Flatbush road near Stirling 








140 


L- 


XVIII. Battle pass in Prospect Park, 






where the old trail ran through 






the hills 


142 




XIX. Hunterny road, the old trail to 








148 




XX. The Vandeveer tide-mill at 








150^ 


- 


XXI. Muskyttehool, the crossing of 






the Flatlands Neck road over 








152 




XXII. The shell-strewn site of Shans- 






comacocke on Gerritsen basin, 








156 


</- 


XXIII. The Strome beach, with Hugh 






Gerritsen 's dam and mill 


158 




XXIV. The old Gravesend Neck road to 








160 




XXV. Old Gravesend Neck road, once 








164 


U^~ 


AND MONOGRAPHS 





INDIAN PATlfS 



XXVI. The Indian pond, in the Indian 
field, alongside Mechawani- 
enck, the ancient pathway. ... 166 
XXVII. The victims of prehistoric war- 
fare buried at Ward point, 
near Tottenville, Staten Island 192 
XXVIII. The Billopp house on Ward point 194 ' 

Ftg. 1. Skull of an ancient denizen of Shora- 

kapkok 87 



V 



INDIAN NOTES 



■ •- 



BOLTON— INDIAN PATHS 



MAP A 



lewood 




ATLANTIC OCEAN 

Scale of Milss 
o 5 (O 



KEY MAP 



MAPS 

A. Key map Facing page 9 

I. Map of Greater New York and the 
contiguous territory, on which are 
traced all the Indian paths shown 
in greater detail on the Borough 
maps, together with the approxi- 
mate situation of all known Indian 
stations, indicated by numbers. 

In portfolio 
II. Lower Manhattan in aboriginal 
times; also a part of Brooklyn and 
adjacent New Jersey. Drawn 
from Ratzer's topographical sur- 
vey of 1766, omitting the streets. 

Facing page 35 
III. Werpoes, a village of the Manhattan 
Indians. A detailed topographic 
study of the native stations and 
paths in the vicinity of the present 
center of municipal government 
of the City of New York. . . In portfolio 
IV. Yorkville and East Harlem in aborig- 
inal times. A detail of the topog- 
raphy of the district between 90th 
and 125th streets, from Fifth ave- 
nue to East river, showing the 
probable situation of two native 
settlements of the Reckgawawanc. 

In portfolio 




10 INDIAN PATHS 



V. Upper Manhattan, comprising the 
Inwood valley, the Dyckman tract, 
and Marble hill. A detail of the 
position of the native sites deter- 
mined by exploration in this lo- 
cality, with probable courses of 
connecting pathways.. .,.. .In portfolio 

VI. The Wading Place and the meeting of 

the paths. A detail of the point 
of convergence of the native 
highways at modern Kingsb ridge. 

Facing page 90 

VII. The Borough of the Bronx, showing 

all known and deduced native 
pathways and the situation of 
known Indian stations. The orig- 
inal watercourses and marshy 
areas have been drawn from old 
maps and from the maps of the 
United States Geological Survey. 
Divided in four sections (see Map 
A, page 9), as follow: 

A. The northwesterly part of the 
Borough of the Bronx, from Wil- 
liamsbridge to the boundary of the 
cit}r, and parts of Yonkers, Bronx- 
ville, Mount Vernon, and East- 
chester. This section includes 
part of the Indian path known as 
Sackerah, between Williamsbridge, 
Eastchester, and Pelham. . . In portfolio 

B. The district of Pelnam neck, 
within the Borough of the Bronx, 
with Pelham Manor, and New 
Rochelle to Mamaroneck, together 



INDIAN NOTES 



MAPS 



with the islands in the Sound ad- 
joining In portfolio 

C. Southern part of the Borough 
of the Bronx, from the Bronx kills 
to Kingsbridge, covering the old 
manors of Morrisania and Ford- 
ham, with West Farms and Bronx 
river from the Botanical gardens to 
its mouth In portfolio 

D. Southeastern part of the 
Borough of the Bronx, the old 
township of Westchester, with 
Throgs neck, and with Cornells 
neck or Clasons point. The map 
includes also a small part of north- 
ern Queens county, the College 
Point and Whitestone districts. 

In portfolio 
VIII. The Borough of Brooklyn, or Kings 
county, with the northeastern part 
of the Borough of Queens, or 
Queens county, on which are drawn 
the old native paths and the known 
Indian stations. The original 
shore-line, and the watercourses 
and marsh tracts, have been drawn 
from old maps and from maps of 
the United States Geological Sur- 
vey. Divided in four sections, as 
follow (see Map A, page 9): 

A. The lower end of Manhattan 
island, as far north as Central 
Park, also the East river shore- 
front of Brooklyn, Williamsburg, 
and Greenpoint, and the New Jer- 



11 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



12 INDIAN PATHS 



sey shore-line of Jersey City and 
Hoboken In portfolio 

B. The Long Island City and 
Newtown district within the Bor- 
ough and County of Queens, with 
a part of East New York, Bush- 
wick, and Greenpoint, within the 
Borough of Brooklyn or Kings 
county In portfolio 

C. The southwestern part of the 
Borough of Brooklyn, or Kings 
county, including Coney island, 
Gravesend, New Utrecht, Fort 
Hamilton, Bay Ridge, and the 
western part of Flatbush, as far 
north as Gowanus bay and Pros- 
pect Park In portfolio 

D. The southeastern part of the 
Borough of Brooklyn, or Kings 
county, including part of Brighton 
and Manhattan beaches, Flat- 
lands, Canarsie, and the eastern 
portion of Flatbush, up to East 
New York In portfolio 

IX. The Indian village-site at Gerritsen 
basin, from a survey and observa- 
tions made by D. B. Austin. 

Facing page 154 
X. Original map of eastern New Jersey 
showing the extent and course of 
the Minisink path.. . .Facing page 196 

XL Original map of a portion of eastern 
New Jersey, embracing the native 
sales of territory contiguous to 
Staten Island, showing a part of 



INDIAN NOTES 



MAPS 



the course of the Minisink path. 
Drawn probably about 1750 as an 
exhibit in the Elizabeth boundary 
dispute, and now in possession of 
the New York Historical Society, 
by whose permission it is repro- 
duced. Facing page 202 

Maps II to VI inclusive are original drawings 
by the author. Maps I, VII, and VIII are 
based on City maps by the Ohman Map Com- 
pany of New York, with additions by the author 
of native paths, marsh areas, Indian titles, and 
sites. 



13 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



15 




INDIAN PATHS IN THE GREAT 
METROPOLIS 

By Reginald Pelham Bolton 

I.— INTRODUCTION 

HE narrow trails which, three 
centuries ago, afforded to the 
red man passage on his errands, 
and provided for him the means 
of intercommunication with his fellows, 
rendered to his white successors the 
important service of indicating the natural 
and readiest routes for their wagon- 
roads. Thus they became in course of time 
the post-roads of the settled Colonists, 
which ultimately developed into some of 
the most important of the modern high- 
ways connecting great centers of American 
civilization. 

Scattered references to these native paths 
in historical records afford the names and 



INDIAN NOTES 



16 


INDIAN PATHS 




directions of only a few of the many which 
must have existed. But within the bound- 
aries of the great city of New York some of 
its thoroughfares are traversed today by 
millions, who little comprehend that their 
lines of travel were decided, and their 
convenience in distance and grade antici- 
pated, by the patient art of the wild men. 

Taking advantage of every favorable 
contour, avoiding every disadvantageous 
obstacle, the Indian sought his way through 
the wild woodlands to or from a desired 
point, and, followed by succeeding genera- 
tions, his prehistoric trail became a well- 
defined and "trodden path," by which 
name the earliest settlers recognized its 
developed condition. 

Such paths were often deeply sunken 
by long-continued usage. They were nar- 
row, suited to the characteristic native 
manner of placing one foot in front of the 
other, as they traveled in single file. They 
were traced with the unerring instinct of 
the woodsman to the points they connected, 
even though the trail wound around hill- 
sides, digressed to avoid bogs, rivers, and 




INDIAN NOTES 



INTRODUCTION 


17 


tidal inlets, bent to meet the natural cross- 
ings of streams, turned around rocks and 
fallen trees, coming always again to the 
general line of their course, just as the 
railroad of today is planned on a larger 
scale, and by the aid of modern invention, 
survey, and study. 

So it becomes an interesting and instruc- 
tive thought, as we travel along the re- 
graded thoroughfare, or race over its sur- 
face in a roaring train of cars, that beneath 
its hard, asphalted surface, below the re- 
mains of its macadamized predecessor, 
perhaps under the corduroy logs of an 
earlier cartway, there may yet be traces 
of the beaten surface of the narrow footway, 
hardened by the soft footfalls of the moc- 
casined feet of the Mahican during cen- 
turies of travel, long before civilization 
burst its bounds in overcrowded Europe and 
set forth to seize the home-land of the Indian. 

The origin of the path is lost in the haze 
of uncertainty regarding the anterior 
history of the American Indian. The length 
of time during which the region of the Greater 
City was occupied by the race is indicated 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





18 


INDIAN PATHS 




only faintly by the extent of their deposits 
of waste materials and the archaic character 
of a few stone tools. But we may reason- 
ably assume that hundreds of years of 
usage had developed the woodland trail 
into the beaten pathway. And we may 
well imagine that even those dimly distant 
travelers were but the successors of the wild 
animals whose tracks through the wood- 
lands, across watercourses, and especially 
those directed to sources of fresh water, 
the pioneer red men had used and developed. 
The woodland growth along the Indian 
path was doubtless cleared to suit the 
native habit of bearing burdens across 
the back. Thus the red men of all times 
transported their loads of game or mer- 
chandise, and the women carried their 
children or bore the household goods of 
skins and earthen pots. We can suppose 
therefore, that the trail was cleared only 
so far as to cat away the underbrush waist- 
high, wide enough to pass a load or a package 
projecting beyond its bearer's shoulders, 
while the path itself was but a couple of 
hand-spans wide. 




INDIAN NOTES 



INTRODUCTION 


19 


The practical necessity of avoiding 
unnecessary grades when bearing a heavy 
load was doubtless a moving element in 
the choice of a route, and there are many 
evidences in the course of the known paths 
of the aborigines that such a defined method 
was followed by them. 

The special purpose of the well-used trails 
was intercommunication between the native 
stations, either camps or villages, for the 
purpose of intercourse or trade, and prob- 
ably for mutual protection against distant 
enemies. Such paths, however, ran not 
only between the several stations of re- 
lated members of a single tribe or chief- 
taincy, but were highways of communi- 
cation between very diverse peoples. The 
trail up the east side of the Hudson, which 
is in great part followed by Broadway and 
the old Albany post-road, provided not only 
access to the friendly tribes up-river, but 
to the masterful Mohawk, whose rep- 
resentatives periodically appeared in the 
region of Manhattan to collect the indem- 
nity or tribute which they had imposed 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





20 


INDIAN PATHS 




by force of arms on the subdued or weaker 
chieftaincies in its vicinity. 

The early settlers in New England found 
"trodden paths" connecting the villages 
of the Pequot, and also extending far 
inland. These formed, in fact, their only 
means of travel from their seashore settle- 
ments, and served the purpose of opening 
up the country, not only to trade, but to 
inspection and invasion by the whites, 
a result which their native creators must 
at times have viewed with very mixed 
feelings. Leading, as they did, to the 
most desirable residential sites, to the 
best fishing-places, and the finest hunting- 
grounds, the trodden paths directed the 
invaders to the choicest parts of the land 
which their cupidity sought to acquire, 
and doubtless facilitated to a marked ex- 
tent, and also advanced by a considerable 
period of time, the overrunning of the 
interior from the seaboard. 

Even political and racial events were 
affected by the Indian paths, since it was 
by their means that the several European 
nationalities spread their ownership, and 




INDIAN NOTES 



INTRODUCTION 


21 


were enabled to exercise their influence on 
the natives, and it was along the Sound- 
shore trails and by the Westchester path 
that the refugees from religious persecution 
in New England found their way to New 
Netherland and obtained a lodgment 
therein. 

In a region possessing such an extent of 
waterfront as Long Island sound and East 
river, the bay and its tributary inlets, 
with such excellent water-highways as 
the Hudson, the Raritan, and the Passaic, it 
might seem that the easiest and most popu- 
lar method of travel would have been by 
canOe. But while the dugout was doubt- 
less a favored means of transit, it had its 
limitations, by ice and storm, and by ex- 
posure to hostile attack. Thus the water- 
ways are found to have been paralleled by 
paths of great length and common usage; 
such as the Shore path extending along the 
north shore of the Sound, and the northern 
trail along the east side of the Hudson, and 
in great part the same trend can be observed 
in the Minisink trail, which extended from 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





22 


INDIAN PATHS 




Shrewsbury river through east New Jersey 
to the upper waters of the Delaware. 

These main paths ran through one tribal 
territory after another. They are evidence 
of the friendly interrelation of nearby and 
also of distant peoples, since their use for 
hostile purposes would have involved the 
consent of the owners of the territory which 
they traversed. The wily Indian, also, was 
addicted to the method of secrecy and sur- 
prise as prime tactics in his warfare, and 
the war-path," which has passed into 
colloquial reference, was more likely the 
trail of the wild animal of the forest, or 
some little-used passage by mountain and 
water-course, than the trodden path through 
villages, where the camp dogs at least might 
be depended on to make known the advent 
of a war-party. 

It may reasonably be assumed that 
every permanent village, and many sea- 
sonally-occupied camps and fishing and 
hunting stations, were connected by some 
path with other occupied places of the same 
tribe or chieftaincy, and these in turn were 
provided with access to some main thor- 




INDIAN NOTES 



INTROD UCTION 



23 



oughfare leading to other tribal territory, 
to the great rivers, to the mountain regions, 
or to the sea. 

The existence of these paths indicates 
their considerable utilization, since the rapid 
growth of vegetation in our climate soon 
overgrows any clearing, and even the hard 
trodden surface of the pathway would not 
long survive the action of frost and the 
growth of weeds, if the bare or moccasined 
footfalls upon its surface were infrequent. 
In some localities, however, their long- 
continued use must have worn their surface 
deeply into the ground, and some such 
well-used paths have left traces in other- 
wise unchanged regions, and have been 
recognized by the recent explorer. 

It is not by a wholly speculative process, 
but rather by deduction, that the course 
of some unrecorded Indian trails may be 
traced in the windings of ancient highways 
and their modern successors. The known 
position of native residences, and the assur- 
ance of the existence of some line of con- 
nection between them on the most natural 
and easy grade, will be found usually to 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



24 


INDIAN PATHS 




combine in indicating the necessary course 
of some old-established highroad. It was 
reasonable and natural for the settlers, 
as the permanency of their occupancy 
became established, to open up the trail 
by which they had made their way to a 
certain district, and thus to utilize the work 
of the native in providing an easy route 
for the widened roadway which was suited 
to their needs' It is not only assumable, 
but fairly certain, that the early settlers 
gradually widened out the trodden path 
so that companions could travel together, 
side by side, and that their next act would 
naturally be to extend the width of the 
passage to permit of the use of a sled or 
a wagon. Thus, with a little grading of 
the highest parts and a corduroy or plank 
support over wet and boggy places, the 
foundation was laid for the farm lane. The 
demarcation of such old lanes by the huge 
bowlders drawn from the cleared lands 
followed, which laborious process fAerma- 
nently fixed the course of such a roadway. 
The direction of certain of these old cartways 




INDIAN NOTES 







INTRODUCTION 


25 


led to their extended use and development 
into highways. 

Thus, with the aid of the records of the 
position of native settlements, and by 
recent observations and exploration, we 
can trace, in the known course of some 
ancient highway following natural, lines 
of contour, the pathway connecting the 
native stations. There is indeed historical 
warrant for these deductions, in the case 
of some known paths which, by the pro- 
cesses above described, became the Kings- 
way or the Post-road of the Colonial pe- 
riod. Interesting combinations of recorded 
fact and deduction from physical circum- 
stances are to be found in the Indian trails on 
the Island of Manhattan, of Brooklyn, and 
the Bronx, traversing the forest-grown site 
of the great metropolis. 

Around the site of each native settle- 
ment, other little paths branched out to 
all the nearby sources of food and supplies. 
The most used, and therefore perhaps the 
widest, was the way to the spring or the 
bank of a brook, on which trail at some time 


• 


AND MONOGRAPHS 





26 


INDIAN PATHS 


• 


daily the whole community and even the 
village dogs traveled to quench their thirst. 

Through the underbrush some path 
always led to a nearby planting-ground, 
trod by patient women workers of the soil, 
or by a cheerful crowd combining to gather 
the ripened corn or to bring in the daily 
supply of beans and squashes. In the sum- 
mer season other of the women folk could 
be seen making their way on narrow trails 
through the woods to gather the wild 
fruits in brake and thicket, the strawberry, 
wild 'henry, and blueberries, or, in fall 
to collect the mushrooms and other fungi, 
to shake down the hickory nuts and wal- 
nuts, or in early spring to tap the maple 
for its sweet sap. 

Down at the marsh, while the men were 
snaring mink or muskrat, or shooting bull- 
frogs or blackbirds, the girls were gathering 
roots of sweet-flag, or scratching up the 
arrow-leaf tubers or artichokes, to fill the 
vegetal larder. 

The elder boys were out on slender 
bypaths in the wild woods gathering sumac 
and bark for their elders to smoke, and 




INDIAN NOTES 



INTRODUCTION 


27 


helping themselves to straight dogwood 
sticks for their arrowshafts, or with the 
willing aid of the family cur, chasing the 
rabbits, or scratching out the woodchuck 
from his lair. 

You could find most of the old men 
around the bark houses doing a little light 
labor — repairing arrows and bows, carving 
bowls and spoons of wood, and fitting 
handles to tools; and possibly some were 
fixing gourds with rattles of wild-cherry 
pits or Jack-in- the-pulpit seeds, or were 
indulging in the adornment of their persons 
with paint-stone or dyes of blood-root 
and sumac. 

The old women would be out on another 
pathway that led to the flower banks where 
grew the herbs for medicine, scent, and 
dyes, the mallows and burdocks, ground 
cedar and pennyroyal, the wild mint and 
sage, and roots of sweet-flag and cicely. 

And perhaps the old shaman might 
have been found on some lonesome footway 
looking for materials for ceremonials or 
charms or potions; love roots and lucky 
seeds, cedar and sweet-grass for incense. 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





28 


INDIAN PATHS 




The arrival of the canoes at nightfall 
after a day's fishing or oystering was the 
signal for the villagers to crowd the path 
to the landing-place, whence, in notassen of 
woven grass and basswood fiber, they aided 
the men to fetch the catch of oysters and 
fish; or when the whoop of the returning 
hunters echoed through the darkening forest, 
to run on the main trail to meet them, as 
on boughs of ash they carried the welcome 
venison to the smoking village fires, freshly 
kindled in anticipation of their success. 

Around every such site the debris of 
these pursuits and the waste of feasts and 
meals lay scattered; scraps of skin and bones 
and charcoal sometimes dumped into a 
hollow when they became too numerous, 
and oyster-shells, fish-scales, and fish-bones 
when they became too objectionable of 
smell, deposited in the scooped-out oven 
pits or the holes in which the stores of 
corn, beans, and dried roots had been pre- 
served over winter. 

And so, long years after the native life 
had departed and the name and even the 
place of the once busy village had disap- 




INDIAN NOTES 



INTRODUCTION 



29 



peared from sight and human memory, the 
humble but indestructible debris of shell 
and sherd and spearhead have re-opened 
the book of history, and recorded in no 
uncertain terms the place of one-time ab- 
original habitation. 

And in the trodden paths that once 
united these recorded, recovered, or other 
unknown sites, the forerunners of our mod- 
ern means of communication are found, a 
practical and permanent result of the life 
and the arts of the wild men. 

A study of the topography of known 
Indian paths affords very clear indication 
of the reasons governing the selection of 
their route. Where the land lay reasonably 
level, the course was fairly direct, swerving 
only around obstacles such as rocky pro- 
jections, and probably diverging to avoid 
heavy growths and fallen timber. The main 
objective being some other settlement or 
some neighboring native haunt, the route 
was directed toward the easiest crossing 
of streams, either at a wading place or 
some shallow point in a watercourse where 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



30 


INDIAN PATHS 




stepping-stones, except in times of flood, 
enabled the traveler to cross dry- foot. 

The swampy tracts bordering on streams, 
with which the area of the city abounded, 
were avoided by detours to some point near 
the head of their water-supply, where a 
footway could be maintained, probably by 
trampling rushes under foot year after 
year above the soft ground, thus gradually 
building up a dry pathway. This is well 
illustrated by the course of the Shore path 
through the one-time village of Eastchester 
on its way to Pelham and the Sound shore. 
Here the path came over from the Williams- 
bridge crossing of the Bronx to the hillside 
overlooking the Hutchinson river, and 
descended to the margin of its marshy 
borders which afforded no practicable place 
of crossing. Turning, therefore, abruptly 
northward, the path skirted the marsh, ris- 
ing in grade until it reached the line of the 
later Boston post-road. Here it turned 
sharply to the east, descending to the head 
of the marsh which it traversed toward 
the river. The selected point of crossing 
was that now occupied by a bridge, where 




INDIAN NOTES 



INTRODUCTION 


31 


a tongue of high land on the northwest 
side almost touched an extension of dry 
meadow-land on the southeast, between 
which narrow space the stream finds its 
way. At no other place in the vicinity 
could so easy and desirable a crossing be 
made. 

Following a similar method, the great 
paths converging on Manhattan — the 
North or Hudson River path, the Shore 
path from the east, and the Westchester 
path — were directed to and united at the 
only available access to Manhattan island, 
the important Wading place at Kingsbridge. 

These main arteries of traffic then com- 
bined in a single trail down the island, 
uniting at McGown's pass with the branch 
path extending from Harlem. So far 
these trails are recorded in history, and 
below that point we can be reasonably sure 
that the path was continued on the line 
of the old Boston post-road, whose tortuous 
course, avoiding streams and bogs, extended 
down the east side of the island to the set- 
tlements on and near its southern extremity, 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





32 



INDIAN PATHS 



the future heart of the Great Metropolis 
of the Western hemisphere. 

James Riker thus imagines the scenery 
through which that ancient thoroughfare 
took its way: 

"Quitting the drowsy little town of New 
Amsterdam, its thatched roofs and its fortress 
with low turf wall receding from view, we follow 
the Indian trail leading to Wickguaskeek or 'the 
birch bark country ,' which lies beyond the quiet 
waters of the Papparinamin, as that part of the 
Spuyten Duyvil was called, where it turns the 
extreme northerly end of Manhattan. Spring 
is in her loveliest attire. Around and along our 
pathway she displays in rich profusion her 
grandest works. Plains scarce trodden by 
human kind save by the red man are clothed 
in all the beauty of their pristine verdure, while 
the rock-capped hills and the resonant forest 
echo back and forth the sounds of wild and 
savage life. Plumed songsters fill the woods and 
enliven our journey with their music. Per- 
chance the shrill cry of the eagle, or the plaintive 
note of the cuckoo, or the busy hammer of the 
woodpecker in turn arrests our attention." 

Pleasant it is to reflect that by no very 
extended journey we may still discover in 
parts of the metropolitan area some wood- 
land places, in which the same natural 
features exist, wherein we may find flourish- 



INDIAN NOTES 



INTRODUCTION 


33 


ing the successors of the trees and vines 
under which the native walked, the same 
bushes and flowers that the aborigine ad- 
mired; may still witness the same mystic 
revival of nature's life in spring as that the 
shivering red man welcomed, may still 
be greeted by those birds' descendants, 
singing the selfsame songs the Indian tried 
to imitate, and may still look upward 
through the leafy canopy to the same sky 
and stars he saw above him, the same 
eternal distance into which he gazed, and 
over them all the same Great Spirit he 
so simply tried to worship. 

On the native path, even then an ancient 
thoroughfare, the rising sun of our early 
history sees the wondering Manhattan 
crowding down from the upland regions to 
the Kapsee rocks, to gaze at the' sails of 
the ship of Verrazano through the vista of 
the Narrows, and a generation later sees 
their successors filing down the trail to 
the place of the fateful bargain when the 
Manhattan path became a white man's 
highway. The shadows of history lengthen 
over Sachkerah, the old Shore pathway, 


. 


AND MONOGRAPHS 





34 


INDIAN PATHS 




as the Siwanoy brave pauses at the head 
of the steep hill leading down to the marshy 
Acquacanonck to view the approach from 
the east, of the little band of refugees, lead- 
ers of the English incursion which, in 
spite of all the efforts of the native race, 
was to displace him as well as the Dutch 
invader, and to turn the village homes 
that lay scattered along the path behind 
him, into the sites of towering tenements. 
The path itself, so familiar in its every 
turn to his quick vision, was destined there- 
by to become the broad King's Highway 
on which his silent footfall was forever 
replaced by the traffic of leathern heels 
and iron wheels, and over whose widened 
surface, where once the meeting Reckgawa- 
wanc and Siwanoy crowded each other 
in friendly passage, the rushing tide of 
rubber-tired cars shall swing past one 
another in endless procession. 




INDIAN NOTES 



BOLTON - 



INDIAN PATHS IN THE GREAT METROPOLIS 




LOWER MANHATTAN IN A30RIGINAL TI 



MES. 



II. MANHATTAN, ITS PATHS AND 
SETTLEMENTS 

(Maps II, III, IV, V) 



THE important influence of the 
Island of Manhattan on the 
interrelations of the tribal com- 
munities of the entire region is 
evidenced by the paths which converged 
on it. 

These were undoubtedly developed by 
experience. The processes of trade, by 
which the products of the ocean were ex- 
changed for those of the mountains, were 
probably the most potent influence in 
deciding the use of a given line of travel. 
Such barter would have extended over the 
whole year, since food and clothing were 
continuous necessities . Therefore the traffic 
could not always be conducted by the use 
of watercourses, and floating ice and storm 
made travel dangerous by the frail and 
sometimes clumsy canoe. 



35 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



36 


INDIAN PATHS 




Long canoe trips across broad reaches 
such as the Lower bay, Jamaica bay, and 
the Sound, involved risk, and occupied 
the time and energy of a number of indi- 
viduals, on a duty or an errand that could 
perhaps be as well performed by one pro- 
ceeding afoot. There were obstacles in 
some places to water-travel, such as tides, 
shallows, and the roaring torrents of Hell 
Gate, which had their effect in discour- 
aging travel at certain water-passages, and 
thus diverted paths to other places. But 
from every direction of traffic or travel, 
Manhattan was accessible by water, and 
the lower part of the island stood at the 
parting of the waterways. 

We may assume, however, that canoes 
were rare possessions, objects constructed 
only by long-continued labor and the ex- 
ercise of unusual skill with the crude stone 
tools available. We are perhaps afforded 
an idea of the number of such vessels 
in the region of the metropolis by the story 
of the gathering of all the local clans in 
their raid on New Amsterdam in September, 
1655. On that occasion it is probable that 




INDIAN NOTES 



MANHATTAN 


37 


every available craft was brought into 
service, and there were only about sixty- 
four in all. 

From such contemporary drawings as re- 
corded their appearance, they were usually 
heavy and clumsy hollowed logs, some 
with high projections overhanging bow 
and stern, very unlike the graceful and 
agile birch-bark craft of the inland waters. 
Probably the type was a development 
of local conditions, influenced by the 
strong tides, floating ice, rough water, 
and the carriage of goods in bulk. In 
particular their use in fishing required 
strength enough to carry loads of shell- 
fish, and heavy sea-going fish such as 
sturgeon. They were often of great size and 
admirable workmanship, says Winthrop, 
and sometimes "so great as one will carry 
eight men." A canoe in which the envoys 
of the Dutch authorities returned from a 
visit to Rockaway carried eighteen natives 
with them to New Amsterdam, a trip which 
occupied from early morn to 3 p.m. to 
accomplish. Such heavy craft may well 
have discouraged travel by water, where 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





38 


INDIAN PATHS 




the same purpose could be accomplished 
afoot, even by a long detour. 

On the other hand, distances traversed 
by walking did not appear so great to the 
wiry native as to his heavily shod successors. 
The Indians' power and endurance in 
traveling afoot is illustrated by the per- 
formance of a native runner who, in 1661, 
conveyed a letter from Newcastle, Dela- 
ware, to New York in less than five days, 
covering a probable distance of about 
180 miles of woodland paths. A "day's 
walk" is the description applied in early 
native conveyances, covering tracts fully 
twenty miles in depth of hill and dale, marsh 
and forest. 

Such a distance from the Battery would 
have included the vicinity of Yonkers and 
Larchmont on the north, Port Washington 
and Valley Stream on the east, Paterson 
and the Oranges on the west, and would 
have touched the region from Amboy to 
Atlantic Highlands on the south. 

So we find all the mainland trails con- 
verging on the upper end of Manhattan, 
and all the Long Island paths trending to- 




INDIAN NOTES 



MANHATTAN 


39 


ward the short ferriage over to the lower 
end of Manhattan, while the traffic of 
northeastern Jersey concentrated, through 
Hoboken, at the Greenwich landing, and 
the Richmond paths apparently led from 
the Minisink path, the highway of the 
Lenni Lenape, in the direction of the 
Narrows toward Manhattan. 

The Manhattan pathways therefore be- 
came the chief line of intercommunication 
between these systems, and those natives 
that were seated on the island practically 
controlled the traffic in all directions. 

It is noticeable that large Indian settle- 
ments existed at those points on which 
traffic converged. This is evident at 
the upper end of Manhattan and Kings- 
bridge, where paths from the northeast and 
southeast merged at the Wading place, 
and certainly at the head of the Long 
Island system of paths the native settle- 
ments in old Brooklyn indicate concentra- 
tion on the head of that important network 
of trails. 

The trade which thus passed through 
or across Manhattan was probably fostered, 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





40 


INDIAN PATHS 




as it has been in modern times, by the 
control of money. The native medium for 
the exchange of values, the coveted and 
laboriously produced shell bead or wampum, 
was largely a Long Island product. The 
shallow waters around the island teemed 
with the quahaug or hard-shell clam, from 
the dark portions of which the more valu- 
able purple beads were derived, and also with 
the periwinkle or conch, from which the 
white beads were made. The accumulations 
of discarded shells around its shores testify 
to the activity of the coinage industry, 
and the wealth thus created flowed naturally 
to Manhattan, and found its way into the 
pouches of traders up the Hudson, to the 
distant homes of the Wappinger and the 
Mohawk, or along the Sound shore to the 
villages of the Siwanoy and the Pequot. 
In addition to their position of advantage 
in regard to this line of production at 
the great wampum-making stations of the 
Canarsee, that chieftaincy controlled its 
export by reason of its situation on the 
main line of travel, and by its close 
relationship with the Manhattan chief- 




INDIAN NOTES 







MANHATTAN 


41 


taincy. It looks very much as though 
this powerful group at the one end of the 
island of Manhattan and the aggressive 
Weckquaesgeek at the upper end had 
so entrenched themselves as to control on the 
one hand the flow of the money, and on 
the other hand the goods of the north and 
east that were purchasable with it. 

The narrow space and the rugged char- 
acter of the lower part of the Island of 
Manhattan lent itself but poorly to the 
support of any considerable population, 
except in its trading facilities. There 
could have been but little wild life in its re- 
stricted area of woodlands, and no such 
broad and level acreage suited to culti- 
vation as in the flat lands of Long Island. 

The tidal movement in the two estuaries 
of North and East rivers, around its rocky 
shores, probably provided good opportunity 
for the spearing and netting of the swarm- 
ing inhabitants of the waters, and from 
the nearby shores of New Jersey and of 
Long Island abundant supplies of oysters 
could be obtained by canoe. Chiefly by 


■ 


AND MONOGRAPHS 





42 


INDIAN PATHS 


- • 


such food and by the product of trade, 
native stations were undoubtedly supported. 

The most important situation for such 
occupancy was at the southern end of the 
island. Unfortunately no record was made 
of its existence. But the common traces 
of native residence were observed in later 
times under the shelter of the eminence 
known to the Dutch as the Kalch Hoek 
(2), at which place there was the most 
abundant supply of fresh, water in the 
locality, provided by the springs which 
filled the "Fresh Water" pond occupying 
the low ground now traversed by Center 
street. Around this sheltered spot, dis- 
carded oyster-shells, the unfailing sign of 
local aboriginal occupancy, were at one 
time observable in great abundance. 1 

About this site there also spread tracts 
of cultivable land. The space now com- 
posing City Hall Park was of such a nature, 
though limited in area. A larger tract 
afterward formed the old Out Ward of the 
Colonial city, broad and level land extending 
on the north alongside the earliest pathway, 
the present Bowery. The position and 




INDIAN N.OTES 



MANHATTAN 


43 


evident facilities of this site, and the ex- 
tent of the visible debris, indicate it as 
that probably occupied by the largest 
settlement of. natives at the lower end of 
the island and doubtless that in which 
were resident the Indians who sold the 
island to Minuit in 1626, and thereafter 
removed to reside in the territory of their 
kinsmen, theCanarsee of Kings county (68). 
The native name of this locality was 
fortunately preserved in a grant from the 
Dutch government to Augustine Heer- 
mans in 1651, which described "the land 
called Werpoes" containing about fifty 
acres, extending on the north side of the 
Kalch Hoek and its adjoining ponds. 
According to Tooker, this name should 
have been more correctly written Werpos, 
or "the thicket," a designation which 
describes the known conditions of the 
locality, the hillsides around the ponds being 
covered in bygone times with bushes and 
blackberry brambles. Such a name, in 
the prevalent Indian fashion, was doubtless 
derived from the most significant feature 
of the locality to the native mind, and 




AND MONOGRAPHS 


- 



44 


INDIAN PATHS 




would have been applied to any settlement 
in its immediate vicinity. 2 

An examination of early maps shows 
that the pond consisted of two parts, known 
to the Dutch as the Kolch and the Little 
Kolch, separated by a narrow tongue of 
land. The northeastern side of the area was 
very wet and boggy. The larger pond over- 
flowed in two directions, east and west, 
the western outlet passing along the base 
of Kolch hill to a wide area of marsh-land 
which extended in a northwesterly direction 
to Hudson river. On the east side the 
overflowing water had found an outlet 
to East river, along the line of the present 
Roosevelt street, passing through a marshy 
tract which was later the "vly" or meadow 
of Wolphert Gerritsen, and even in our 
modern times is known as "the Swamp." 

The waters of East river, as well 
as the tide of the Hudson, seem to have 
penetrated to the Kolch ponds, according 
to the assertions of Anthony Rutgers and 
others in 1730. These citizens stated that 
the swamp and pond called the Fresh Water 
were "so much on a level with Hudson's 




INDIAN NOTES 



MANHATTAN 



River, and the South River [East river]. . . 
that on the spring or other high tide, when 
the said rivers overflow they run into 
and cover the said swamp so as to meet 
one another." Armbruster considers that 
in ancient times the watercourses through 
the swamps may have been sufficient to 
float canoes between the Hudson and 
East rivers, 

At this favored place, sheltered from the 
west winds, provided with abundant water 
and nearby access to the river, the unfailing 
signs of Indian residence were found in 
masses of oyster-shells "abundantly strewn 
over the hill "on the western side of the 
lake." . 

Modern excavations on the line of Pearl 
street reached these old shell-beds, indicat- 
ing the existence of a native station situated 
about the line of that street, where it 
passes through the one-time Kolch hill 
on its way to join Broadway. 

There were peculiar advantages for 
Indian residence in this situation, which 
become evident on examination of its 
original features. These have been brought 



45 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



46 


INDIAN PATHS 




together in the accompanying Map II. 
The outlines of the ponds as related to 
our present street system, are preserved 
in the map by John Hutchings, 1846, 
which accompanied the description of the 
experiments of John Fitch with his steam- 
propelled boat in 1793. 3 

The surrounding contours are redrawn 
from the survey of 1766 by Lieut. B. Ratzer 
(see Map II). Such a combination of 
fresh- water supply and of shelter from the 
northwesterly gales of the winter season, 
with a natural grade for its drainage, as 
existed on the west side of the little lakes, 
would today invite the exploration of the 
expert investigator, who would confidently 
expect, on the removal of the surface of 
turf and leaves, to find the familiar shells 
and carbonized debris that proclaim aborig- 
inal occupancy. 

The position of native lodges and fire- 
pits would be predicted almost certainly 
on the west bank of the lake, on which 
side alone no marshy fringe existed, and 
at that point where shell-beds were present 
there must undoubtedly have been a number 




INDIAN NOTES 



MANHATTAN 


47 


of such habitations, the traces of which 
were ruthlessly shoveled into the lake when 
its neglected condition led to its entire 
obliteration, by the process of cutting down 
the hills and filling in the ponds. It seems 
from these circumstances that the needs 
of aboriginal residence would have been 
served by a site under the lee of the Kolch 
hill, between Duane and Leonard streets, 
on the sloping ground between Broadway 
and Lafayette street. It is through this 
area that the grading of Pearl street west 
of Park Row cut between the two ponds 
and disclosed the shell-beds that marked 
a viilage-site. 

We may from this comparative study 
come to the interesting conclusion that 
the chief place of native residence on lower 
Manhattan was close to the present center 
of municipal government of the great 
metropolis, which has become its over- 
whelming successor. 

The exhaustive explorations by the 
Museum of the American Indian, Heye 
Foundation, of complete village-sites in the 
Borough of the Bronx, have informed us of 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





48 


INDIAN PATHS 


• 

i 


the arrangement and approximate extent 
of these village communities. The lodges 
seem to have been ranged in rather irregular 
rows, generally facing to the south, each 
with its fire-pit within and its rubbish-pit 
outside the entrance. The center of the 
group might have had a large community 
fire- pit, kept constantly supplied with fuel, 
around which the gatherings of the clans 
took place. 

The extent of the population probably 
depended more on the facilities for food 
supply than on the convenience or spacious- 
ness of the village-site. The restricted 
hunting area and the rather limited cul- 
tivable lands in its vicinity would indicate 
that Werpoes probably comprised fewer 
lodges than Snakapins, on Clasons point, 
in which more than sixty pits discovered 
may be taken to have marked the sites of 
some forty lodges, housing a population 
which may be assumed to have been about 
three hundred. As the needs of a group 
of even half that number involved consid- 
erable cultivation of cereals, we may assume 
that any suitable ground nearby would 




INDIAN NOTES 







MANHATTAN 


49 


have been cleared and planted. The area 
of City Hall Park would seem to have been 
naturally and conveniently suited to such 
a purpose. 

The land north of the vale which was 
occupied by the lake was even better 
suited to such a purpose, and the tract 
extending above Worth street west of the 
Bowery, which was that described in 1651 
as "the land called Werpoes," and was 
directly opposite the village-site across 
the pond, may have been the principal 
planting-ground that supported the village 
people. 

Access to this favored village-site was 
possible from two directions. It has been 
noted that the line of lower Broadway, 
which below Park Row is reasonably as 
sumed to have been the successor of a native 
path, is directed toward the rear of the 
village at Duane street. By such a route 
the inhabitants could have made their 
way directly to the extreme end of their 
island home. 

A path undoubtedly led, by the easiest 
grade and as directly as possible, to East 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





50 


INDIAN PATHS 




river, where the traffic from Long Island 
found a landing near the junction of Dover 
and Cherry streets. This path probably 
joined the main pathway near the Muni- 
cipal Building, and by following the latter 
northward, the village folk could readily 
reach their planting-grounds along the 
Bowery. 

Werpoes was occupied for no long period 
of time after the advent of Hudson. If, 
as would seem most likely, its occupants 
were those with whom Minuit made his 
bargain in 1622, supposedly for the entire 
island, the sale of their home-site resulted 
in their entire evacuation of the place 
after that event. Doubtless these natives 
were those Manhattan Indians who were 
afterward found to be settled at Nayack, 
or Fort Hamilton (68), where they resided 
for twenty-five years, when they consented 
again to remove and transferred their 
home to Staten Island and in part to the 
Hackensack region. And it is significant 
that in Brooklyn another locality was 
found to bear the same native name of 
Werpos (67), to which perhaps some of 




INDIAN NOTES 



MANHATTAN 


51 


their neighbors may have transferred the 
name of their prior home. A close rela- 
tion evidently existed between these Man- 
hattan natives and those who dwelt in 
Brooklyn. 

The southern extremity of the Island of 
Manhattan was known to. the natives 
as Kapsee, which name was applied to 
the rocky upland and also to the rock 
islets off its shore. The extreme end of this 
tract, which was later named "Schreyers 
Hoek," was a point extending south of 
Pearl street and Whitehall street, bounded 
on its shore-line by our present State street, 
the curved portion of which has preserved 
for our observation the outline of the 
ancient promontory. 

This point formed on its east side a small 
cove, somewhat protected from the tides 
that swirled around the end of the island. 
It lay in the angle of Pearl and Whitehall 
streets, the name of the former probably 
preserving the appearance of the shell- 
strewn beach along which the thorough- 
fare was laid out in 1633. That such 
a desirable landing place was utilized by 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





52 


INDIAN PATHS 




the natives cannot be doubted, affording 
as it did to their canoes the best possible 
starting point for a trip to any of the is- 
lands or fishing grounds in the waters of 
the inner bay. It is reasonable to assume, 
therefore, that the natives reached this 
place by a pathway from the local village, 
and an examination of the one-time topog- 
raphy of the lower end of Manhattan 
leads to the conclusion that the route of 
such a pathway would naturally have taken 
the line of our present Broadway. The 
physical characteristics that determined 
this position for the path are evidenced in 
Map II, which is derived from the survey 
of Ratzer in 1766, omitting, of course, the 
then existing development of buildings 
and streets. It is evident that passage 
along the east side of the neck was barred 
by the tidal inlet at Broad street, and by the 
marshy vly along its course, which ex- 
tended as far inland as Wall street, with 
a small branch that ran westward along 
the line of Beaver street. The path there- 
fore skirted this obstruction by proceeding 
on the line of Whitehall street to the higher 


— 


INDIAN NOTES 



MANHATTAN 


53 


ground which rose at the line of Morris 
street, there taking the straight course 
of Broadway, as far as the planting-ground 
of the village of Werpoes. It followed 
equally naturally that the use of this path 
was continued by the settlers and their 
descendants, until its ultimate widening and 
development into "the greatest street in 
the world, "as Stephen Jenkins has described 
it. 

There was no physical obstruction to 
this path continuing in its course as far 
as the native village, into which it would 
have turned at Duane street. The line 
of travel farther north, however, was barred 
in the direction taken by Broadway by 
the broad swamp-land through which the 
outlet of the Kolch pond made its way to 
the Hudson. From the path along Broad- 
way, therefore, another trail set off to the 
east. If, as is probable, this followed a 
course which was later developed into the 
earliest roadway, the turn was made at 
Ann street, with a sharp bend at Nassau 
street by which Park Row was reached. 

This abrupt turn may be accounted for, 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





54 


INDIAN PATHS 




as in other situations, as a means of avoid- 
ing an occupied site or a piece of cultivated 
ground. The latter seems a probable 
development of the level area of City Hall 
park, which may even be assumed to have 
been the most natural and desirable space 
for a purpose so necessary to village life. 
The path, turning out of Nassau street, 
passed along Park Row, which is in a direct 
line toward the easiest point of crossing 
over the outlet by which the waters of 
the Kolch ponds flowed to East river. 
This point of crossing was at the head of 
Roosevelt street, where the swampy ground 
was no wider than -fifty or sixty feet, and 
the rivulet turned in its course between 
rising ground north and south only fifty 
paces apart. 

At the south this high ground developed 
into the Catiemut hill, a little eminence 
occupying the area in the angle of Pearl 
street and Park Row, covering City Hall 
place. Another elevation, known much 
later as Potters hill, the site of the present 
Hall of Records, stood a little to the west. 
Between the two was the natural grade for 




INDIAN NOTES 



I ■ 

MANHATTAN 


55 


a branch path connecting the village with 
the main path. 

A branch pathway led eastward to a 
landing on East river opposite the head 
of the Indian trail on the Brooklyn side. 
A suitable landing beach existed at the 
foot of Dover street, near which the later 
ferry was established. It was necessarily 
approached on the south of the swamp, 
which spread between Park Row and the 
bank of the river. The most probable line 
of this path was along Pearl street about as 
far as Cherry street. The old shore-line ran 
inland on Dover street near Cherry street, 
and the outlet of the Old Wreck brook, 
as the watercourse draining the ponds be- 
came known, was near the junction of 
Roosevelt street with Cherry street. From 
the crossing of the brook at Roosevelt 
street the path continued in an easterly 
direction, following Chatham street to 
Chatham square. A small hillock then 
occupied the center of that space, and 
so the trail swerved to its north side and 
thus reached the junction of the Bowery 
and Division street. Here a branch path- 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





56 


INDIAN PATHS 


■ 


way, probably on the line of the latter 
street, led to the neighboring village of 
Rechtauck or Rechtanck (3), which was 
situated on Corlears hook. The shore-line 
along this part of the island faces almost 
due south, and from the vicinity of Market 
street eastward the shore-line was composed 
of high banks of sandy soil. 

Near Jefferson street there was a depres- 
sion through which a little fresh-water 
brook made its way into a pond situated in 
the block bounded by Jefferson, Henry, 
Clinton, and Madison streets. This appears 
to have been the only source of fresh-water 
supply in the entire tract, and, situated 
as it was with a southern exposure sheltered 
between rising ground east and west, the 
latter being covered with timber even as late 
as 1766, with a good beach in front, the 
space in the vicinity of the pond offered 
about as attractive conditions for village 
life as could be desired, and was therefore, 
in all probability, the site of Rechtauck. 
Though the existence of this station 
is recorded in local history, its precise 




INDIAN NOTES 







MANHATTAN 


57 


situation was of so little concern to early 
writers that they made no note of it. 

The name of the village signifies "at the 
sandy town," or "sandy river." 4 The lead- 
ing feature of the village-site was evidently 
the sandy character of the bluffs along the 
shore-line of East river. It has been 
called Naghtongh or Nechtank by School- 
craft and others, but these designations are 
probably erroneous. It has a tragic in- 
terest as the scene in 1643 of that ruthless 
slaughter of the unfortunate natives of 
Weckquaesgeek, who had sought refuge 
from their oppressors, the Mohawk, near 
the white man's settlement. 

From its junction with the trail to the 
Rechtauck village, the line of the Bowery 
lane indicates the most probable course 
of the pathway by which the native traffic 
proceeded toward the upper end of Man- 
hattan. It passed "the land called Wer- 
poes," that level tract which later became 
the Out Ward of the growing city, and was 
in all probability a planting-ground cleared 
by the inhabitants of Werpoes from the 




AND MONOGRAPHS 






58 


INDIAN PATHS 




primeval forest growth with which we may 
assume the whole locality was covered. 
The direct line of the Bowery lane indicates 
the natural course of its predecessor through 
a tract offering no physical obstructions 
or changes in grade. 

At the line of Astor place another pathway 
branched westward. This was an impor- 
tant connection between the main line of 
travel and the landing-place on the shore 
of the Hudson by which trade in peltries 
and food was conducted with the tribes 
on the west side of the estuary. This place 
was known as Sapohanikan (4), and was 
situated on the curving shore of the river 
at our present Gansevoort street. The 
tide-line in those days was well inland of 
Washington street, and the stretch of 
shelving shore between Bethune and Hora- 
tio streets formed a shallow cove suited 
to the landing of laden canoes at all 
heights of the tide. 

There does not appear to have been any 
fresh-water supply at or near this place, 
so that it would have lacked the most 
important element necessary to permanent 




INDIAN NOTES 



MANHATTAN 



59 



residence. It was, in point of fact, a trading 
station only, occupied by those who met 
there to exchange goods with the natives 
of Hobokan (116), a terminal to which the 
people of the East Jersey mountain regions 
brought skins and meat, to be ferried directly 
across the river to Sapohanikan. The 
name denotes its position "over against the 
pipe-making place," and thus indicates its 
character as a convenient spot for communi- 
cation rather than for residence. 

We may assume that the path from this 
place was a well-trodden and probably 
widened way on which the bearers of bundles 
of furs, carcasses of moose and deer, baskets 
of oysters, and strings of fish, passed one 
another on their way to and from their 
distant homes. 

The line of this pathway was directed 
by the physical conditions of the tract over 
which it passed to a connection with the 
main trail at Astor place. From the land- 
ing place it probably proceeded east over 
the line of Gansevoort street to the head 
of Greenwich avenue. This is the old 
Monument ' lane of the Colonial period, 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



60 



INDIAN PATHS 



which proceeds in a straight line toward 
Washington Square. At this point the 
path crossed the rivulet known to the 
natives as Minetta, 5 and to their successors 
as the Bestavaer brook. It turned east- 
ward at this crossing, and cut across the 
present lots north of Waverly place, pass- 
ing there between two hillocks, one of which 
was known as the Sandberg, or Sand hill, 
and that on the south by a native name, 
which Schoolcraft gives as Ispetong, prob- 
ably Aspetong, referring to an elevated 
place. 6 The line of Astor place is doubt- 
less the result of the junction of the two 
paths at this point. 7 

It is quite likely that another branch 
pathway extended farther eastward, which 
Stuyvesant later used as the means of 
access to his bouwery, on the line of Stuy- 
vesant street, by which the head of the 
narrow creek that set in from East river 
(as far as First avenue at East 12th street) 
was reached, affording a short cut by canoe 
to the mouth of Newtown inlet directly 
across East river. 

From Astor place we now follow the path 



INDIAN NOTES 



MANHATTAN 


61 


on its way northward as it was developed 
into the earliest roadway through the island, 
the old road which was existing when a 
cartway was ordered to be opened in 1670 
to connect New Amsterdam with the town- 
ship of New Haerlem. There is no histori- 
cal record of this old road having been an 
Indian path, but there can be little doubt 
that this was the case, as it led to the junc- 
tion of two known native paths at McGown's 
pass, and its crooked course was evidently 
directed by ancient physical conditions. 

The middle part of the Island of Man- 
hattan does not seem to have been oc- 
cupied to any great extent by the natives, 
a condition which may be explained by the 
rugged nature of that territory, and by its 
restricted area, which probably limited the 
wild animal life within it. But the shores 
of the island, particularly on the sheltered 
east side, must have been dotted with fishing 
camps at certain seasons. 

The absence of village life on the west 
side was doubtless due to its physical 
characteristics, which lent themselves but 
poorly to native occupancy. It was rocky 


• 


AND MONOGRAPHS 


- 



62 


INDIAN PATHS 




throughout, with a scanty deposit of soil, 
the hollows insufficiently drained, and there- 
fore boggy. In the difficulties of maintain- 
ing vegetation in Central Park we have an 
illustration of its meager character, its 
thin soil, its irregular surface, its infertility 
and scanty sustenance. But the main 
objection, from an Indian point of view, 
lay in the exposure of the west side of the 
island to the bitter wintry winds. In the 
course of explorations of native sites in 
and around the island, it has been very 
definitely determined that the natives pre- 
ferred the eastern side of hills, or a south- 
ern exposure, and the scattered places where 
aboriginal debris has been found along 
the west shore of Manhattan indicate their 
use as summer fishing camps rather than 
as residential sites. The Dyckman Street 
site (100) is an exception, but it was 
peculiarly situated and sheltered on all 
sides except due west. 

There were some favorable situations 
along the Hudson shore, where fresh-water 
springs existed, such as at 79th street and 
at Strikers bay or 96th street; and at the 




INDIAN NOTES 



MANHATTAN 


63 


latter point an old resident stated .that oys- 
ter-shell deposits had been observed before 
the Riverside Park improvement began. 
The limited use of such stations would 
not have warranted the divergence of the 
main line of travel up the western side 
of the island. They were more prob- 
ably reached by a trail through the woods, 
which was in use in 1679, when Sluyter 
and D ankers made their way from Harlem 
to North river, "which we followed a little 
within the woods to Sappokanikke." Some 
trails doubtless led across the island to the 
main path on the eastern side, one of which 
may well have extended from Strikers bay 
along the line of the later Bloomingdale 
crossroad (between 94th and 96th streets), 
thus connecting North river with the village 
of Konaande Kongh (5), the headquarters 
of the chieftaincy of the Reckgawawanc. 
An article on the history of Broadway 1 
states that "The Post Road or Boston Road 
as it was originally called, was the first 
highway laid out through the length of 
the island," and the remark is also made 
that "the topographical character of the 




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64 


INDIAN PATHS 




island in this vicinity was of a broken or 
rocky character, diversified with swamps 
and a briery growth, with but slight attrac- 
tions to the agriculturist." 

Along its course, northward of Astor 
place, we have only one recorded place 
of Indian occupancy, a tract at East 14th 
street bearing the name "Shepmoes" (99), 
probably a title descriptive of a local fea- 
ture, the "little brook." 8 (See Map II.) 

As there was quite a tract of marsh- 
land along the west side of the trail at this 
part of its course, it is probable that this 
plantation extended east of the path, over 
the level lands of the later Tiebout farm. 
But this area does not have the character- 
istics of shelter and an accessible spring, 
which were indispensable elements in the 
selection of native dwelling places. It 
is most likely, therefore, that the position 
of this group of lodges may have been at 
or near Second avenue, where a run of 
fresh water existed in the vicinity of a 
knoll, thus affording to some extent shelter 
and water-supply. 

The course of the old Eastern post-road 




INDIAN NOTES 



MANHATTAN 



65 



which we thus regard as the successor of 
the original trail, was by way of Fourth 
avenue from Astor place as far as 17th 
street, whence, skirting marsh-lands on the 
west side, it ran to 23d street at Fifth 
avenue. Here it turned sharply to the east, 
passing diagonally across Madison Square to 
26th street at Madison avenue, the reason 
for this divergence being a convenient cross- 
ing over the head of a brook between two 
areas of marshy land at that point (see 
Map II). From this crossing it continued 
eastwardly over Madison avenue at 26th 
street, and thence diagonally to Fourth 
avenue at 28th street. Its east side touched 
Lexington avenue at 30th street, where it 
turned north and ran parallel with Lexington 
avenue through the lots on its west side, 
It then passed easterly across Lexington 
avenue between 37th and 39th streets, and 
diagonally east over to Third avenue at 
44th street. It next took a sharp loop west- 
ward between 48th and 51st streets, on 
its diagonal way from Third to Second 
avenues, which latter it reached at 52d 
street. 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



66 



INDIAN PATHS 



In a statement made by John Randel, 9 
the surveyor, he describes the course of 
this old post-road, as it lay in 1808-10, in 
some detail: 

"It crossed the 4th avenue at the Middle 
Road near 29th street, and passed through the 
Village of Kips bay from 32nd to 38th street 
west of 3rd avenue. It thence passed the Cross 
road to Burr's corners (on the Middle road 
opposite the present Croton Reservoir) at 41st 
street, and the road to Turtle bay on the East 
River between 47th and 48th streets; thence 
crossed the 2nd avenue at 52nd street, and, re- 
crossing it between 62nd and 63rd streets, 
entered the present 3rd avenue at the south- 
east corner of Hamilton Square, which extended 
from 66th to 68th street, and from 3rd to 5th 
avenues. " 

"This road continued thence along the pres- 
ent Third avenue, passing Harsen's crossroad 
at 71st street and east of Smith's tavern oppo- 
site "Kissing Bridge" at 77th street. It 
crossed the division line between New York 
and Harlem commons between 81st and 82d 
streets, and continued along Third avenue to 
near 83d street. From Third ave. near 83d 
street this Eastern post-road diverged westerly, 
and crossed and recrossed the division line be- 
tween New York and Harlem commons, and 
crossed Fourth avenue near 85th street, thence 
passed over the southwestern corner of Observa- 
tory place, and intersected the Middle road at 
90th street." 



INDIAN NOTES 



MANHATTAN 



67 



"From 90th street this Eastern post-road 
continued along the middle road to 92nd street, 
and there diverged westerly and passed between 
Fifth and Sixth avenues (where it was also 
called the Kingsbridge Road) through the 
Barrier Gate — at McGowan's pass at 107th 
street, about 116 yards east of 6th avenue." 

On the east shore of the island, along 
this line of the pathway thus described, 
there were some apparently desirable sites 
for Indian occupancy, such as at Kips bay, 
Turtle bay; and doubtless along the bluffs 
facing Blackwells island could have been 
found by interested observers in years 
gone by, the sites of fishing camps. But 
none of our predecessors in historical inves- 
tigation seem to have been sufficiently 
interested in the subject to conduct any 
exploration or to make any record of such 
traces, and so the long, sheltered shore- 
line with its desirable fishing facilities, 
from Corlears hook to 105th street, is de- 
void of definite native associations. 



AND MONOGRAPHS 






68 



A 



III.— UPPER MANHATTAN PATHS 

(Maps IV and V) 

T 105TH street a neck of land 
extended south of Harlem kill 
into East river, known as Rech- 
ewanis or Rechewas point (5), 
owned by the Reckgawawanc, and sold in 
1669 by Reckgawack and others to De la 
Montagne. The native village was known 
as "Konaande kongh" and was probably 
situated on the high ground between Madi- 
son and Lexington avenues at 98th to 100th 
streets. Access from the path, which ran in 
Central Park north of 88th street, was 
doubtless by a branch leaving the main 
trail near 95th street and crossing Fifth 
avenue somewhere near 96th street. A 
study of the topography of the locality is 
presented in Map IV. 

The name of this native station is record- 
ed in. the deed for the sale of Rechewanis 
in 1669, though it has been misapplied to 
Harlem creek. Mr Harrington suggests 



INDIAN NOTES 



UPPER MANHATTAN 


69 


that the native word axkwonan, "to 

catch with a net," is the basis, and with 

the addition of kongh, the equivalent cf 

the Delaware xunk, we derive the meaning 

of the village name as "the hill near which 

they fish with nets," a reference to the 

nearby waters of Hellgate bay, which was 

doubtless a favorable place for such a 

known native method of fishing. The terms 

of the deed of sale, when carefully read, 

exclude the possibility of the connection of 

this name with the creek, which latter is 

referred to as one of the boundaries of 

Point Rechewanis, as follows: 

"The underwritten Indians have sold the 
Point named Rechewanis, bounded between 
two creeks and hills, and behind a stream [fon- 
teyn] which runs to Montagne's Flat." 10 

This exactly and completely describes 
the neck of low, sandy marsh-land east 
from the high ground in Central Park 
(103rd-107th streets), to Hellgate bay or 
East river, and bounded on its north side 
by Harlem creek (the fonteyn referred to), 
taking in Montagne's tract to Manhattan- 
ville, and on its south side by a smaller 
and unnamed creek bordering the high 




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70 


INDIAN PATHS 




ground between Madison and Third avenues 
from 101st street southward. 

The deed proceeds with the description 
of the property ". . . with the Meadows 
(Valeyen) from the bend of the Hellegat 
to Konaande Kongh." 

The meadows thus described lay south 
of the bounds of the point previously 
described, and extended along the shore of 
the bay of Hellgate, from 92 d to 100th 
streets, between First and Second avenues. 
The marshy area was much cut up by 
stream and inlets, and it extended back to 
the high ground on the west, previously 
referred to, which roughly followed a line 
north and south. 

This is evidently the situation of Konaan- 
de Kongh, a particular title which is so 
precise that it could scarcely have been 
applied to a mere line of uplands, which 
in the other part of the deed are referred 
to merely as "hills" (bergen). The topo- 
graphy is suited to the position of the 
station, in which Reckgawack and his circle 
of natives must have made their headquar- 
ters, on the high ground in the vicinity of, 




INDIAN NOTES 



UPPER MANHATTAN 


71 


though it could not have been upon, the 
point. The latter was wholly unsuited 
for residence; for it was little more than a 
mound of sand, rising above the marsh- 
land, overflowed by high tides and doubt- 
less swarming with muskrats and crabs, and, 
moreover, without shelter from every wind 
that blew. But on the higher ground to 
the southwest there was such shelter from 
the wintry winds, and also a good source 
of water-supply from two springs rising 
near 98th street. These flowed together in a 
level space, which lay between two ridges 
on the line of Park avenue, and as the lodges 
there commanded a full view of the waters 
of Hellgate bay, the village-site would agree 
with the description of Konaande Kongh 
as "the hill near which they fish with nets." 
This was the old haunt of the Reckgawa- 
wanc, to which they„ clung until 1669, when 
they abandoned their home-lands forever. 
The path entered Central Park at 88th 
street and extended northwesterly through 
the site of the Croton reservoir. It joined 
the Park drive just above the Transverse 
road, or 97th street, and followed it to its 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





72 



INDIAN PATHS 



junction with the circular drive near 104th 
street, where it struck across the park over 
to the head of the gully known as McGown's 
pass, which 'ed down into the valley west 
of the eminence on which the Fort of 1812 
was perched. This part of the path can 
still be readily traced, though it leads 
into the Mere, which now covers the low- 
land over which it used to pass. 

The Indian trail in New Haerlem diverged 
from the main path at 110th street, at a 
point midway between Fifth and Lenox 
avenues. Curving to the northeast, it 
reached a point at the southwest corner of 
111th street and Fifth avenue, whence it 
ran on a direct line over the broad and level 
meadow-land known as Muscoota, to a little 
creek on the Conykeekst tract, on which 
the tiny hamlet of New Haerlem was later 
formed at 125th street, just west of First 
avenue. Its line was adopted as one,, of 
the village streets, and as such was long 
known as "the Indian trail" (see Map IV). 

Riker records the discovery, in 1855, at 
a point between 120th and 121st streets, 
on the same neck of land, of numerous 



INDIAN NOTES 



UPPER MANHATTAN 



73 



shells, flakes, rejects, and weapons, demon- 
strating native occupancy. This occupied 
place (98) was doubtless a native site of 
some importance, since it was the nearest 
point of access by canoe to the wide terri- 
tory of Ranachqua, or Morrisania, which 
could be reached on foot only by a long 
tramp via Kingsbridge. That territory was 
also a part of the Reckgawav^anc posses- 
sions, affording extensive hunting, fishing, 
and oystering facilities for the chieftaincy. 
But the situation of this station lacked the 
necessary shelter required for winter occu- 
pancy, and it was more likely a place of 
landing and trade, or perhaps a fishing-place. 
The broad tract of level land on which 
this station was situated, extending north 
of the waters of Rechewanis and lying 
east of the Indian trail, between 108th 
street and 123d street, was known to the 
natives as "Conykeekst." 11 The queer name 
may have been more correctly Quinni- 
keek. As in other situations, the name 
was probably applied equally to the local 
settlement (98) and to its vicinity. The 
tract was waterless, save for one small 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



74 



INDIAN PATHS 



brook which flowed diagonally northeast- 
ward from a source at 114th street near 
Second avenue, and reached Harlem river 
at 123d street near Avenue A, or Pleasant 
avenue, passing within about three hundred 
feet of the place at which the native objects 
were found, as above described. 

The situation of Conykeekst, if such was 
the station's name, was without shelter 
on the west, except for the forest growth, 
and it may therefore be assumed to have 
been unoccupied in the winter season, and 
during the rest of the year to have been an 
oystering and fishing camp. 

St Nicholas Avenue 

The parting of the Manhattan path 
from the Harlem trail appears to have been 
at 110th street, on the east side of Lenox 
avenue, the Harlem trail passing off diago- 
nally to the east, and the main path 
continuing in a northwesterly direction 
into our present St Nicholas avenue at 
111th street. The path probably ran 
along the easterly side of the avenue, on 



INDIAN NOTES 



UPPER MANHATTAN 



75 



the line of the old Harlem lane, which was 
the successor of the Indian thoroughfare. 
The course headed directly across the 
level meadowlands now covered by modern 
Harlem, toward the foot of Washington 
Heights. Along its route at or near 115th 
street, at Seventh avenue, the pioneer 
white settler fixed the location of his clear- 
ing, Vredendal, or "Quiet Vale," the home 
of the Montagne family. This site may 
have been selected on account of its prox- 
imity to the path, and reasonably convenient 
access to a supply of water, the nearest 
brook being about five hundred feet to the 
south, and the upper branch of Harlem 
creek extending on the east about an equal 
distance from the house-site. Riker 12 says: 

"Harlem Lane, as we have reason to believe, 
was at first an Indian trail. Such forest paths, 
conveniently marked out by savage instinct, 
were often adopted by the white settlers as the 
best routes for highways. 

"In traveling from New Amsterdam to 
Spuyten Duyvil, at McGown's pass was the 
natural descent to the plain, the path striking 
its northern end, where it would as naturally 
fork to the left and right, for the equal con- 
venience of the pedestrian passing through the 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



76 


INDIAN PATHS 




' Clove of the Kill ' to the North River, or along 
the base of the height to and up Breakneck 
Hill." 

Here these early settlers went about 
their daily labor of converting the virgin 
land into a productive farm, while the dusky 
savage, "whose trail lay near them, lead- 
ing from the forests of Wickquaskeek to 
New Amsterdam, passed to and fro on 
his trading errands and eyed with ill-dis- 
guised suspicion this inroad upon his an- 
cient hunting grounds." 

At 124th street the little watercourse 
known to Dutch settlers as the fonteyn, 
was crossed. Rising near Broadway, it 
flowed east and south to the head of Harlem 
creek. A branch path may have extended 
along the line of Manhattan street to a 
landing at North river, on the line of 130th 
street, to which an ancient lane extended 
in the Colonial period. 

The path at 125th street turned north- 
eastward to avoid the sharp acclivity later 
known as Point of Rocks, the extreme 
southern projection of the Penadnic, the 
Colonial "Hills of Jochem Pieter," our 




INDIAN NOTES 







UPPER MANHATTAN 


77 


modern Washington Heights. It skirted 
along the eastern base of the hilly range, 
bending here and there, within the bounds 
of St Nicholas avenue as it now runs, and 
slightly rising in grade to 141st street. It 
crossed there, and also at 143d street, 
the cascading brooks which bounded down 
the steep hillside from sources on the later 
estates of General Maunsell and Alexander 
Hamilton, and uniting, ran into a marshy 
tract that extended until recent times along 
the base of the hill as far north as Harlem 
river, wholly barring farther progress 
along the level lowlands. 

Compelled now to scale the heights, the 
red man found a difficulty in the varying 
seasonal conditions of the stream and marsh. 
In dry seasons it must have been easy to 
cross the brook and skirt the marsh to 
the line of the old Breakneck hill, steeply 
ascending to 147th street, the bugbear of 
the mail-coach of later times. In wet 
weather a clamber along the rocky hillside 
skirting the brook was a better route. In 
the Military Headquarters Map of 1782, 
three such routes are shown at this point, 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





78 


INDIAN PATHS 




all illustrating the strategic value of the 
place as that best suited to the scaling of 
the hill, and the seasonal difficulties which 
were encountered in the process. 

Once landed on the high ground, the trail 
went easily and directly northward, through 
the dense woodland growth which, until 
many decades of Colonial advance had 
passed, covered the favorite hunting-ground 
of the Reckgawawanc, passing the future 
site of Jan Dykman's farmhouse at 153d 
street, and proceeding in nearly a direct 
line past the site of the home of Roger 
Morris, and his successor in ownership, the 
irrepressible Madame Jumel. 

Probably a little side trail led to the west, 
at or near 158th street, connecting a small 
fishing-station, the site of which was marked 
by a deposit of shells on a mound on the 
south side of that street at Audubon lane. 

Bending northwest at 160th street, the 
path followed the line of the avenue to 
168th street, there Crossing, sometimes 
directly, sometimes circuitously, a marshy 
tract on the site of the present Mitchel 
Square. Rising in grade to its highest 




INDIAN NOTES 




o ~= 
I- o 
o . 



x 5: 

CO "* 

I- ft 

O Sm 



Oh 



UPPER MANHATTAN 


79 


point, the path followed our present Broad- 
way. It crossed the divide at 173d street, 
and on the line of old Depot lane, now 
177th street, a bypath must have led to 
the fishing-station and canoe-landing on 
Fort Washington point (14), where a con- 
siderable deposit of blackened soil, shells, 
and occasional scraps of pottery indicate 
a somewhat extended use of the place by 
men and women of the local tribe, while 
the arrowpoints found by Alanson Skinner 
among the rocks are probably those lost 
in shooting the darting fish that swarmed 
the swirling tide around the famous head- 
land (pi. i). 

At 176th to 181st street the path bounded 
an Indian planting-field, known as "The 
Great Maize Land" to the early settlers, 
the only clearing in the wild woodlands, 
doubtless prepared and tended by those 
natives resident in Fort Washington Park. 
Between 179th and 180th streets the path 
swerved to the east to reach the head of the 
ravine through which it and its successor, 
the Albany post-road, now Broadway, made 
its way directly down between the hills 


• 


AND MONOGRAPHS 





80 



INDIAN PATHS 



of Fort Washington and Fort George, to 
the low-lying valley of Inwood. 

At 195th street a brook, later known as 
"The Run," crossed the path from west 
to east, at the head of the swampy ground 
which extended in from Sherman creek 
(Map V). In the sloping ground north of 
the watercourse, which has been cultivated 
for many years as a truck garden, various 
objects of native handling have been turned 
up by the spade, but these are not sufficient 
to indicate its use for more than a camp- 
site. The path passed on, as Broadway 
now does, around the western side of "The 
Knoll" to Dyckman street, which it crossed 
between the heads of two small water- 
courses running east and west, respectively, 
at that point. A branch path must cer- 
tainly have turned westward along the 
margin of the latter brook, at the base of 
the high ground around which Riverside 
drive now bends, and led to the ancient 
station (100) on the bank of 'Little Sand 
bay," snugly ensconced behind Tubby hook. 

Along the course of the brook deposits 
of shells may still be seen, and on the shore 



INDIAN NOTES 



BOLTON — INDIAN PATHS 






AN !mw^ pa , th - the trail through shorakapkok. the 

INWOOD VILLAGE. MANHATTAN. (STATION 16. MAP V) 
Photograph by W. L. Calver 



UPPER MANHATTAN 


81 


of the little cove a mass of shells and car- 
bonized material had accumulated to a 
depth of nearly five feet, in which Alanson 
Skinner and Amos Oneroad, exploring for 
the Museum of the American Indian, Heye 
Foundation, found crude artifacts, indica- 
tive of very ancient use. 13 

This is probably the earliest occupied place 
in the Inwood district, which has proved 
rich in the remains of native occupancy. 
Indeed the numerous spots where such 
signs have come to light point to the use 
in one way or another of all parts of the 
favored valley, from the dense woodlands 
of the sheltered hillsides to the numerous 
fishing-places along the placid Muscoota 
river and around the shore-line of Shora- 
kapkok. 

The broad tract of meadow-land and 
marsh in the center of this vale, extending 
from the base of Fort George hill to the 
southerly part of Marble hill, was known to 
the natives as Muscoota (15), "a meadow or 
place of rushes." As in other situations, 
the name was applied also to the contiguous 
waters of Harlem river, bordering the tract 




AND MONOGRAPHS 








82 



INDIAN PATHS 



upon the east, which thus became known 
to the early colonists as the kill Muscoota. 
The hilly extremity of the island, the 
present Marble hill, around which Spuyten 
Duyvil creek winds its sinuous way, was 
known as Saperewack, an apparent and 
interesting description of the white marble 
outcrop of this hill, evidenced by the Delaware 
sabbeleu-aki, "glistening place," as deter- 
mined by Mr Harrington. This name 
is recorded in the deed of 28 September, 
1669, as "the hook called Saperewack." 
The winding waterway from the head of 
kill Muscoota, at 225th street, was known 
as Paparinemin or Papirinemin, a name 
applied also to the island of Kingsbridge 
which bounded the stream on its northerly 
side, and which seems to be derived from 
the Delaware papallenumen, "to contin- 
ually make a false start," which would indi- 
cate to the native mind the special peculi- 
arity of the tides of this locality, accord- 
ing to Mr Harrington. The limits within 
which the name seems to have been applied 
were from the head of Harlem river around 
Marble hill, as far west as the sharp bend in 



INDIAN NOTES 



= v ■ A 












UPPER MANHATTAN 


S3 


the stream caused by an extensive projection 
of marshy land from the southern end of 
Spuyten Duyvil hill, now occupied in part 
by the Johnson Foundry. This point, which 
was partly inundated at high tide, and 
nearly surrounded by the waters of the 
creek, was known to the Indians as Gowa- 
hasuasing, denoting "a place hedged in." 

The sheltered side of Inwood hill was 
a most desirable place for native residence, 
and extensive debris discovered on all 
favorable sites testifies to their long-con- 
tinued occupancy. The mouth of Spuyten 
Duyvil creek bounds the hill on the north 
and partly on the east, and this portion 
of the waterway was included in the name 
applied by the natives to the locality, 
Shorakapkok, which Mr Harrington sug- 
gests may be from shaphakeyeu-aki, refer- 
ring to a "wet-ground place " 

The principal station appears to have 
been a village (15) situated at the base of 
the east side of Inwood hill, along the 
present Seaman avenue, where a number of 
the native dead were also interred. This 
must have been reached by a bypath, 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





84 


INDIAN PATHS 




probably extending from the main path at 
Dyckman street along the line of the old 
Bolton road and via Prescott avenue to 
the village-site, which was occupied from 
near the Bolton road, as far north as 
207th street, with numerous shell-pits and, 
around a spring at 204th street, with 
extensive beds of debris. 

We may be sure that a village path passed 
on northward to- the planting-ground situat- 
ed on the Isham estate, north of 207th street 
and west of Seaman avenue. Thence 
it led by the same route as the present 
cartway (pi. n) through the woodlands to 
that shadowy glen under the cliffs of In- 
wood hill, where the Indian cave still exists, 
and where the spouting spring still pours 
out its pellucid stream for the benefit of 
the visitor to the fascinating Shorakapkok, 
(pi. in), the present Cold Spring Hol- 
low (16). 

The great deposit of debris in this vale 
was explored by the Museum of the Ameri- 
can Indian, Heye Foundation, and was 




INDIAN NOTES 






UPPER MANHATTAN 


85 


found to fill the ancient bed of a brook 
long dried up, and to extend even beyond 
the shore-line into the waters of the 
creek. 13 

The main path, from Dyckman street 
eastward, probably left the line of Broad- 
way near Academy street, and crossed the 
brook, the source of which was the spring 
at the native village, that ran through the 
head of a swampy tract later known as 
Pieter Tuynier's fall. The old highroad, 
its successor, took this course and ran 
diagonally eastward to 209th street at 
Harlem river, where it reached a fishing 
camp-site, which was marked by consid- 
erable shell-deposits, and thence proceeded 
northward parallel with and near the bank 
of the river past the sites of the later Dyck- 
man and Nagel homesteads, toward Mar- 
ble hill. 

It may be assumed that branch trails 
led westward from this path to nearby 
places occupied by the natives for residence 
or for ceremonies, such as the site of the 
slaves' burying-ground at 212th street 




AND MONOGRAPHS 




- 





86 


INDIAN PATHS 




and Tenth avenue, where a number of Indian 
shell-pits were explored by W. L. Calver 
and Dr Edward Hagaman Hall, in which 
were found pottery, and dog, turtle, and 
snake skeletons; or on Isham street, Cooper 
street, and 207th street, where human and 
dog burials, shell-pockets, and fire-pits 
have been discovered by Mr Calver and 
his companions (pi. iv, v, and fig. 1). 

Between the high ground of the Dyckman 
estate at 218th street and the Marble hill 
at 225th street, the broad water of the 
United States Ship Canal now sweeps, 
bordered on the north side by the New 
York Central railroad. This was in ancient 
times a marshy gully, in which two brooks 
ran west and east, the latter easily crossed 
by the path about a hundred feet west of 
the present Broadway bridge. 

The trail then curved around the eastern 
side of Saperewack, our Marble hill, past 
the later site of the Hyatt tavern at 225 th 
street, and at a level considerably below the 
line of Broadway it made for the Wading 
place, the ultimate object of its entire 
course. 




INDIAN NOTES 



BOLTON— INDIAN PATHS 




INDIAN WOMAN AND CHILD IN A GRAVE AT SHORAKAPKOK. 

(STATION 16, MAP V) 

An arrowpoint was found in one of the woman's ribs, indicating a violent death. 

Photograph by W. L. Calver, 1908 



UPPER MANHATTAN 



87 



The Wading place is described as having 
been a short distance east of the original 




Fig. 1. — Skull of an ancient denizen of Shorakapkok, dis- 
interred on Seaman avenue near 204th street, Manhattan 
(Station 15, Map V). 

Kingsbridge, which in turn was east of 
the more recent bridge, now buried under 
Kingsbridge avenue (see Map VI). 

Stephen Jenkins, in his Story of the 
Bronx, places the situation of the Wading 
place, with much probability of accuracy, 
under our present Broadway, at the disused 



AND MONOGRAPHS 






88 


INDIAN PATHS 




bridge which in recent years spanned the 
little creek. Here the water was shoal, 
and at low tide the bottom was exposed in 
the middle of the tideway, forming a little 
island (pi. vi). This was further extended 
by the late Joseph Godwin, whose house 
stood on the abutting tongue of land, upon 
the Island of Paparinemin (18), and he used 
it as a site for a summer house, whereby 
it became known as Godwin's island. The 
exact line of the Wading place was under 
the western part of the bridge, nearer the 
high ground on each shore. It has been 
stated that oyster-shells were to be seen 
upon the island, but of course they may 
have been carried there in the extension of 
its area. 

By this means the path left the Island 
of Manhattan. Only those who were 
ferried over on the backs of others, passed 
on their way dry of foot, unless perchance 
at times a dugout may have served the pur- 
pose of a ferry. When the tides were high 
there was often a long delay for travelers, 




INDIAN NOTES 





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UPPER MANHATTAN 


89 


which may account for traces of meals in 
small shell-deposits on the south side of the 
creek, and others on the opposite side of 
the stream on the sloping shore of the 
Island of Paparinemin. 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





90 






T 



IV.— PATHS IN THE BRONX 
(Maps VI, and VIL A, B, C, D) 
HE low land above Spuyten Duyvil 



creek at the Wading place, was 
the island Paparinemin, which 
was formed by the Mosholu, 
known later as Tippett's brook, on the 
west, and on the other side by a marshy 
tract through which meandered a small 
watercourse, fed by brooks from the 
steep hillside on which modern Kings- 
bridge is now situated. This island was 
a favored place for Indian residence, as it 
is sheltered by high hills in every direction, 
with an ample supply of fresh water. Its 
surface was composed largely of sand and 
cultivable soil. In the vicinity of 231st 
street, across the island, many traces of an 
occupied station have been found (18). 
Shell-pockets and scattered debris cover 
the upland, and near the middle of the area, 
upon the center line of that street, about 



INDIAN NOTES 




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THE BRONX 


91 


two hundred feet west of Broadway, W. L. 
Calver discovered a fireplace, in the ashes 
of which there was standing upright a fine 
pottery vessel of Iroquois pattern, possibly 
neglected in a hurried abandonment of the 
place on the advent of some hostile party, 
by natives who never revisited the place 
to recover this domestic treasure. 

The path ran along Broadway close to 
this site, and then turned sharply to the 
east across the marsh-land at or near 
231st street, where the bog was narrowest 
(see Map VI). A causeway was later con- 
structed at the same crossing by the settlers 
of Fordham. Over this important crossing 
all the native traffic necessarily passed 
between the Island of Manhattan and the 
outlying mainland north and east. 

At its landing on the Fordham side, the 
path reached the base of the Keskeskick 
highlands, the north part of which was 
later known as Tetard's hill. Here it divided 
into two trails passing north and south. 
That part of the trail extending northward 
was the Hudson River path which developed 
into the present Albany post-road. This 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





92 


INDIAN PATHS 




important path was the main line of com- 
munication between the Reckgawawanc 
and their relatives at Yonkers. It passed 
through the principal stations of neighbor- 
ing chieftaincies, at Dobbs Ferry, Tarry- 
town, Ossining, Croton, and Peekskill, 
crossed the Highlands at Continental 
Village, and entered the lands of the Wap- 
pinger, extending to the country of their 
oppressors, the Mohawk. 

In Kingsbridge village the old post-road 
existed until recent years, when it was cov- 
ered by a deep fill to its present level, 
and is now known as Albany avenue. On 
the east side of the line of this roadway, 
at 234th street, W. L. Calver, with the 
writer, found a shell-pocket with pottery 
fragments, evidently marking the site 
of a small camp alongside the trail. 

The path curved around Tetard hill 
as Albany avenue now runs, crossing near 
238th street a small brook descending the 
hillside, and thence extending on a nearly 
straight course northward toward Van 
Cortlandt Park, where it found a practicable 
crossing over the Mosholu brook at 242d 




INDIAN NOTES 









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THE BRONX 


93 


street. 14 This was probably effected by 
stepping-stones at the foot of the cascade 
where in 1700 a dam and a sawmill were 
erected by Van Cortlandt, thus creating 
the present lake. In Indian days the brook 
made its way through a marshy tract ex- 
tending half a mile back to our present 
city boundary. 

Here the trail connected with a consid- 
erable village-site (19) which covered a 
space of several acres on the level land west 
of the lake. On this area, when the regrad- 
ing of the present playing-field was under- 
taken in 1890, J. B. James found many 
fire-pits, a number of native human inter- 
ments, and several dog-burials. The name 
of this village is not recorded: it may have 
been Mosholu, by which name the surround- 
ing locality has been known to recent times, 
but more probably was included in the 
title of the tract of Keskeskick, that formed 
the first sale by the local natives to the 
Dutch West India Company in 1639. That 
sale was made by Taquemack, the local 
sachem, but was also agreed to by Reck- 
gawack, indicating its connection with the 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





94 


INDIAN PATHS 




possessions of the chieftaincy of the 
Reckgawawanc. 

The trail passed to the south of this 
village-site along the low ridge, on which 
the Van Cortlandt mansion was later placed, 
crossed Broadway at 244th street, and 
turned north and extended parallel with 
Broadway. This old highroad, now re 
named Newton avenue, can still be seen, 
much in its original condition (pi. vii). 
In this vicinity traces of native stations 
were discovered by J. B. James, at 247th 
street near the Fieldston road and at Pas- 
cal avenue. These doubtless had some 
relation to the Keskeskick village. Beyond 
Mosholu avenue the old line of the highway 
is now abandoned, but its course may still 
be traced by the trees and stone fences that 
once lined it on both sides, as far as about 
260th street, where it fell in line with Broad- 
way of today and so arrived at the north 
boundary of the City of New York. It 
was over this trail that the party of Dutch 
militia despatched by Kieft to raid the 
native settlement at Yonkers (20) passed 
in March, 1642, guided by Tobias Teunis- 




INDIAN NOTES 



THE BRONX 


. 95 


sen, the pioneer settler of Inwood valley, 
who was probably well acquainted with the 
path The expedition must have left the 
main trail at some point in South Yonkers, 
with the intention of surprising the Weck- 
quaesgeek from an unexpected direction, 
as it lost its way in the dense woods and 
deep glens of the Sawmill River valley east 
of Yonkers, and was obliged to abandon 
the accomplishment of its ill-intentioned 
purpose. 

From some point near the village along- 
side the Mosholu brook, a branch trail 
must have extended to the Riverdale dis- 
trict, toward the native castle of Nip- 
nichsen (17) , 15 which was situated on the 
strategic position of Spuyten Duyvil hill, 
commanding an outlook over a wide expanse 
of land and water. Such a trail most prob- 
ably skirted the base of the hill by the 
line of the old Dash's lane, which extends 
along the west bank of the Mosholu (pi. 
vni) . 

The lane passes an occupied place, marked 
by scattered oyster-shells and a large pit 
filled with shells, bones, and carbonized 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





96 


INDIAN PATHS 




material, on a projecting tongue of land 
just south of the intersection of the lane with 
the recent extension of 238th street. This 
trail probably made its way round the base 
of Spuyten Duyvil hill close to the river 
bank, as shown in Map V, as far as the pre- 
sent Spuyten Duyvil railroad station. A 
scattered shell-deposit covered the area 
now buried under the railroad yard, and 
indicated the site of a native station con- 
veniently accessible across the stream from 
the Shorakapkok stations on Manhattan, 
the scene of abundant Indian life. 

Above this sheltered place, on the summit 
of the steep hill which was afterward known 
as Konstabelsche hook, or Berrians neck, 
there was the native station of Nipnichsen, 
which is said to have been a stockaded posi- 
tion. It overlooked the junction of the 
creek and the ' river, commanding a wide 
view of the great estuary, as well as of the 
Dyckman flatlands and all the surrounding 
hills. Such a defensive place was doubt- 
less planned as a refuge in case of incursion 
by the overbearing Mohawk, and must 
have been accessible by paths or trails 




INDIAN NOTES 



THE BRONX 



97 



leading from the various stations in the 
vicinity. It could not have been a desir- 
able place for permanent residence, on 
account of its exposure to every wind that 
blew, and its lack of water supply. 

It probably occupied the crest of the 
hill a few yards to the south of the site 
of old Fort Number One of the period of the 
Revolution, on which the house occupied 
at one time by the late William C. Mu- 
schenheim was built. In the garden of this 
residence, Dr Edward Hagaman Hall and 
the writer opened several small shell- 
pockets, which were, however, without 
objects of interest. Others may probably 
exist in the vicinity. W. L. Calver found 
shells and fragments of pottery near the 
site of Public School No. Twenty-four, on 
Kappock street, which is near an abundant 
spring of fresh water. Along the shore of 
the Hudson several shell-deposits mark 
the sites of fishing-camps on the lines of 
West 232d, 235th, and 245th streets. A 
site which indicates extensive utilization, 
and possible long residence, is that of the 
one-time farm dwelling of the Tippett 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



98 


INDIAN PATHS 




family on the same hill, but farther north, 
about the line of 231st street. Quantities 
of oyster-shells are imbedded in rich black 
soil. The place is sheltered, and flowing 
springs are nearby. Only a few fragments 
of native materials have so far been found 
there, but enough to justify the determina- 
tion of the place as an Indian station. 16 

These traces indicate a limited use of 
the exposed Nipnichsen hill, which, however, 
does not detract from its importance as a 
place of aboriginal observation and of possible 
refuge. 

THE WESTCHESTER PATH 

Returning now to 231st street, where the 
Manhattan trail divided (see Map VI), 
we take up the study of the Westchester 
path, which turned south from the Albany 
trail at the crossing of the marsh at 231st 
street. This was a well known native 
pathway, recorded in history, utilized later 
by the white settlers, and extending through 
the present Borough of the Bronx in two 
branches — one connected with Westchester 
and the local stations in its vicinity, the 




INDIAN NOTES 



THE BRONX 


99 


other passing through Eastchester and 
Pelham to the long stretch of Sound-shore 
territory, which was occupied by the neigh- 
boring tribe of the Siwanoy. By its ex- 
tension in that direction and its connection 
with other trails, this path, now the Boston 
post-road, brought the tribes of the New 
England states into contact with their 
eastern brethren, and provided the means 
of communication by which the English 
settlers of the New England colony ulti- 
mately found their way into the territory 
of the Dutch. 

The native name of this important path 
was Sachkerah, derived from the Delaware 
shaiahik, meaning "the shore," and oana, 
or amy, "a path," or, in other words, it 
was "the Shore-road." It is quite pre- 
cisely located in the deed by which the 
natives confirmed the purchase by Archer 
from Elias Doughty of the tract of land 
which was included between the two branches 
of the path, extending from the point of 
crossing where they united, as far east as 
Bronx river. This interesting deed also 
preserved some local native titles, of which 




AND MONOGRAPHS 

_ 





100 


INDIAN PATHS 




mention has already been made of those 
upon the upper end of Manhattan Island. 
The south bounds of the tract were denned 
as extending on a line drawn southeast- 
wardly from the hook Saperewack, or 
Marble hill, and such a line is found rather 
closely to follow the native trail that led to 
the old town of Westchester. This line cuts 
Bronx river at a place which the deed re- 
corded as being -called Acqueegenom (119), 
evidently the Indian name of the locality 
where the path thus used as a boundary 
touched Bronx river, and probably, there- 
fore, the wading place over that stream. 
As ocque means "at the end of," or "as 
far as," aney "a path," and om "over," 
the name may denote "where the path 
goes over." The boundary ranged thence 
northward along Bronx river to a place 
called Cowangongh (120), which was the 
crossing of the upper or Shore path at 
Williamsbridge. This name is derived 
from cowang, "sl boundary," and ongk, 
"beyond," indicating the point of passing 
beyond the boundary of the former owners, 
which was the river. 




INDIAN NOTES 



THE BRONX 


101 


From this point the boundary ran west 
"on Sachkerah," the Shore path, "and so 
to the first place Muscoota," that is, fol- 
lowing the path back to Manhattan, it 
formed the northerly boundary of the tract. 
To make the matter more precise the deed 
stipulated, "so that from Muscoota to 
Sackerath [Sachkerah] it runs upon a 
straight east line to Broncks Ryver." A 
line due east and west from Williamsbridge 
touches the end of the Island of Manhattan. 

Sachkerah became the old Boston post- 
road, and as such is traveled today by 
thousands of automobiles, the modern suc- 
cessors of the swift and silent Siwanoy, 
whose patient effort and hardened feet 
wore the track that ultimately brought 
about their own displacement. 

In 1668 this thoroughfare again formed a 
boundary of property which Elias Doughty, 
the heir of Van der Donck's land-rights, 
sold to the farmers Tippett and Betts. 
This tract ran "west to Hudson's river 
and east to Bronck's River, with all the 
upland from Bronck's River south to West- 
chester Path." 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





102 


INDIAN PATHS 


- 


The path had first necessarily to ascend 
the steep Keskeskick hillside, which it 
accomplished (see Map VI) by proceeding 
south by way of Albany crescent to Bailey 
avenue, where it divided into its two parts, 
the Shore path, or Sachkerah, ascending 
the hill as the Boston post-road, now called 
Boston avenue, up to Sedgwick avenue. 
The lower path, which led direct to West- 
chester and the native stations in the south- 
eastern part of the Bronx, took a southerly 
route by way of Bailey avenue, around the 
bend of Spuyten Duyvil creek, toward the 
line of the old Kingsbridge road, which led 
to the village of Fordham, turning east at 
the Farmers' bridge opposite Muscoota 
or 225th street, Manhattan. 

This part of Westchester path, which will 
be first described, and is shown on Map 
VII, C, crossed the edge of some marshy 
ground near the bridge to Manhattan, 
where there is a patch of cultivable ground 
richly strewn with oyster-shells, indicating 
a small station and probably a planting- 
field. 

Crossing Heath avenue, the Lower path, 




INDIAN NOTES 



THE BRONX 


103 


as we shall describe it, steeply ascended the 
hill to Sedgwick avenue, and through the 
wooded upland went due eastward as 
Kingsbridge road now runs, past the site 
of the old Dutch Reformed church near 
the head of University avenue, and the 
Eighth Regiment armory on Jerome avenue, 
and bending irregularly but nearly within 
the lines of the present Kingsbridge road, 
it ascended the high ground and reached 
and crossed the present Concourse. Here 
it turned to the south around the present 
Poe Park, where the old Williamsbridge 
road, which is now part of Valentine ave- 
nue, later joined its route. It ran past 
the original site of Edgar Allan Poe's 
little home, and in front of the site of the 
old Valentine-Briggs farmhouse which 
has been very recently removed, on its 
western side, and so bending sharply east, 
it descended through the village of Fordham 
to Mill brook, at the head of Third avenue. 
Mill brook was crossed at some point 
north of Pelham avenue, probably at a 
shallow place where the brook widened out, 
which seems to have been due west of the 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





104 


INDIAN PATHS 




main College building, and the trail struck 
across the grounds of St John's College, 
on a line which may be that of the old 
rear driveway. Beyond the college it cut 
eastwardly through the site of Fordham 
hospital, and crossing the Southern boule- 
vard, entered Bronx Park. Traversing 
the park, it reached Bronx river, where 
there is a practicable wading place about 
one hundred and fifty feet north of Pelham 
parkway. This, the Indian Acqueegenom 
(119), is shown in pi. ix. Thence the 
trail extended to the Siwanoy settlements 
east of the Aquehung or Bronx river, to 
which the lower part of the stream formed 
not only a boundary but a physical bar- 
rier. Its extension and branches are de- 
scribed later. 

It would seem that some branch path 
must have extended toward native settle- 
ments in Ranachqua 17 or Morrisania, the 
southern part of the present Borough of 
the Bronx. The known sites are not 
numerous, but the fertility of the soil and 
the attractive natural features of the terri- 
tory, which were testified to by Jonas 




INDIAN NOTES 




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THE BRONX 


105 


Bronck, were such as to constitute a very 
desirable locality for native occupancy. 
The tract, as shown by Map VII, C, was 
cut up by watercourses extending from 
the north to the south. On the west side, 
a stream known as Mentipathe, the later 
Cromwells creek, divided the lower part 
of the Keskeskick range of hills from the 
vale through which Jerome avenue now 
extends. 

Mill brook extended midway through 
the Ranachqua tract, rising at a point 
north of Fordham village and emptying 
into the Bronx kills at 130th street. The 
Sackwrahung tract on the east was cut 
by the stream of the same name, now known 
as Bungay creek, which extended as far 
inland as Intervale avenue, and the Quin- 
nahung or Hunts Point promontory was 
bounded by Bound brook on its west side, 
and by the Aquehung or Bronx river on 
the east. 

Native trails therefore must have made 
their way into these localities from the 
north, and one such trail probably extended 
to a landing place on the shore of Bronx 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





106 


INDIAN PATHS 




kill, opposite Harlem, from which con- 
nection could be made by canoe with the 
head of the Indian trail on Manhattan is- 
land, which has been described in Section 
III. In the vicinity of this probable 
landing place, traces of native occupancy 
were found in shell-pits and fire-pits (6) 
which were opened by W. L. Calver and the 
writer around the knoll on which the man- 
sion of Gouverneur Morris stood at 132d 
street, near Cypress avenue, where a fine 
spring of water was doubtless an attractive 
feature of the station. Native interments 
were also disturbed there, and shell-beds 
existed in the vicinity. 

The settlement and cultivated land of 
Jonas Bronck seems to have been made 
in that part of the Ranachqua tract directly 
opposite Harlem, west of the marshes and 
bogs along Mill brook, as is indicated in 
the crude map accompanying the Patent 
of 1676. The extent of the territory known 
as Ranachqua was not clearly defined, but 
it ran at least as far east as the Sackwra- 
hung district or Bungay creek, beyond 
which stream the West Farms purchase 




INDIAN NOTES 



THE BRONX 


107 


was made in 1663 from natives who were 
partly of Siwanoy and partly of Reckgawa- 
wanc affiliation. 

These physical conditions all seem to 
indicate that it was necessary for any 
connecting trails in the west part of the 
Bronx to extend from the lower Westches- 
ter path at some point or points in its 
course across the eastern part of the present 
borough. But the existence of such trails 
is not recorded in maps or deeds, and we 
can look for indications of probable routes 
only in the old-time Colonial roadways 
which took the same general direction. 

Thus the old High Bridge road which 
was in existence long prior to its receiving 
that name, was an ancient track used prior 
to the Revolution. It branched from the 
Kingsbridge road, the line of the Lower 
path, at or near the old Dutch Reformed 
church at Fordham, and followed approxi- 
mately the course of Aqueduct avenue 
along the range of hills, as far as Washington 
Bridge, thence via Boscobel avenue to East 
169th street. A branch may have forked 
off along our present Jerome avenue leading 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





108 


INDIAN PATHS 




toward the end of the hill at Devoes point. 
This narrow tract of upland, extending 
from Highbridge to the present Macomb's 
Dam Park, was known to the natives as 
Nuasin, perhaps n'ashaue, "middle," ink, 
"place," indicating its situation between 
the waters of Cromwells creek and Harlem 
river. It is quite probable that there was 
some use made of this ridge for hunting and 
fishing by the natives. The old road crossed 
Cromwells creek near 169th street, and 
thence proceeded diagonally over farming 
land to the line of Walton avenue, and by 
East 153d street to Mott avenue. This 
led to East 138th street, whence the road 
proceeded in a southwesterly direction to 
the Morrisania landing-place, which was 
situated on dry land projecting into Harlem 
river just east of Willis avenue bridge, 
now covered by the New Haven Railroad 
yards. It was close to this place that 
Bronck established his home, the situation 
of which was disclosed in the discovery 
by W. L. Calver and the writer of a stone 
vault containing much household debris of 
very early character. 




INDIAN NOTES 



THE BRONX 


109 


Another old wagon-way, which is de- 
scribed by Jenkins, 18 branched off from the 
line of the Lower path at the place in Ford- 
ham where it crossed Mill brook, following 
the present Third avenue to East 182d 
street, along which it passed to East 181st 
street near Bronx river. If this was the 
successor of a pathway to Hunts point, 
which seems the natural direction for such 
a trail to have taken, it would have fol- 
lowed the line of the Boston post-road to 
East 177th street, thence by a line which 
later became the old West Farms road, 
joining the Southern boulevard at West- 
chester avenue and following the line of 
the latter to Hunts Point road, which led 
directly to the Quinnahung station (7) . 

Another, starting from the Ranachqua 
locality, perhaps at the station 6, probably 
followed the course of the Westchester 
road which is now Westchester avenue, 
and may thus have formed a cross-connec- 
tion between the landing-place and the 
stations in the eastern part of the Borough 
of the Bronx, though it would have involved 
the crossing of Bronx river by canoe at 




A1STD MONOGRAPHS 





110 


INDIAN PATHS 




the present location of Westchester ave- 
nue, since there is no fordable place there. 

The Hunts point or Quinnahung settle- 
ments (7) were probably fairly well-popu- 
lated stations, judging by the large deposits 
of shells at several localities, such as around 
the original Richardson house site just 
west of Drake Park, in shell-pits on and 
around the hillock at Eastern boulevard 
and Preble street, and extensive shell-de- 
posits around the shore-line of the extreme 
point, near the old Hunt mansion. 

The objective of the lower Westchester 
path, the course of which through Fordham 
to Bronx Park has been described, was, 
as previously mentioned, the Siwanoy 
settlements in the southeastern part of 
the Borough of the Bronx. This was the 
district which later became the township 
of Westchester, the refuge of those fleeing 
from religious persecution in New England. 
The native stations occupied several ad- 
vantageous positions within Westchester 
township, and one of them, which was 
situated on the old Bear Swamp road (13), 




INDIAN NOTES 



THE BRONX 


111 


was maintained by the dwindling native 
population as late as 1782. 

On crossing Bronx river at Acqueegenom 
in Bronx Park, near Pelham parkway, the 
path headed directly for that settlement, 
following the line of the Bear Swamp road, 
which has been maintained to our times. 
The irregular course of this old roadway 
can still be traced as it proceeds from the 
White Plains road in a southeasterly direc- 
tion. The native village (13) was situated 
on a sheltered slope of land on the east 
side of Downings brook, a small tributary 
of Bronx river, which has its source in the 
Bear swamp. Continuing on toward the 
village of Westchester, the trail crossed 
Seabrey creek, a little brook emptying 
into Hutchinson river, where the New 
Haven branch railroad now runs over it, 
and a short distance beyond entered the 
line of the West Farms road and extended 
into Westchester, where it divided into 
two trails, one running north at Silver 
street, and another extending eastward. 

It would seem most probable that the 
latter trail extended to and traversed 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





112 



INDIAN PATHS 



Westchester creek at the wide and shallow 
part of that waterway, now spanned by 
Westchester bridge, as this appears to 
have been the only practicable direction 
in which access could have been gained to 
the extensive district of Throgs neck. 
The old Throgs Neck road extending from 
the Westchester bridge is a natural line 
of travel, and passes directly to a site 
(102) on St Raymond's cemetery near the 
Eastern boulevard, where excavations for 
interments have from time to time dis- 
turbed shell-pits, indicating an Indian 
settlement. 

A trail could readily have been formed 
from this point, passing eastward over the 
upper part of Weir creek near the Town 
Dock road, which would lead to the site 
(12) of the Siwanoy village at the mouth 
of Weir creek (pi. x, xi). This ancient 
site is described in the publications of the 
Museum of the American Indian, Heye 
Foundation. 19 

It is probable that several other places 
on Throgs neck were occupied by the natives, 
one being indicated by shells and stone 



INDIAN NOTES 







THE BRONX 


113 


artifacts at Adees point, opposite the 
Weir creek station, and another (11) on 
Locust point, probably no more than a 
fishing camp, as it is without nearby water 
supply. The most important place on the 
east side of Westchester creek, however, 
was that known to the early settlers as 
"Burial point" (10), a place situated, but 
as yet unexplored, somewhere on the shore 
of Morris cove, near Old Ferry point. 

Upon the point several places, by the 
presence of shell-beds and by fragments 
of weapons, evidence the native occupancy 
of the promontory. It would be most 
probable that a trail would have led directly 
from the St Raymond's cemetery site by 
way of the Eastern boulevard and Ferris 
road, directly to Burial point, to which it 
is related that the Siwanoy of the entire 
district were wont to bring their dead for 
interment. 20 

On the west side of Westchester creek, 
the wide tract now occupied by Unionport 
and Cornells neck spreads westward to 
Bronx river. Its native occupied places 
were of importance. On Screvens point, 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





114 


INDIAN PATHS 




now known as Castle point, there existed 
an Indian fortified position or "castle" 
(9), from which the local name is derived, 
situated on an elevation of about 60 feet 
above tide- water. Below this eminence 
spreads a tract of about eight acres of 
rich farm-land, abundantly furnished with 
oyster-shells and yielding from time to 
time fine specimens of native weapons and 
tools. At the extremity of that neck there 
is also a shore station, where evidences 
still exist of extensive native work in the 
manufacture of wampum from clam-shells. 
Such an important station as Castle point 
evidently required a pathway, which doubt- 
less must have connected it with the Siwa- 
noy village on the Bear Swamp road. The 
traffic between the two places could have 
passed most conveniently by way of the 
old Unionport road, which, after crossing 
Westchester avenue, followed the approxi- 
mate line of Avenue C, or Castle Point 
road, which leads directly to the site of 
the one-time Screven residence that occu- 
pied the hillock on which the Indian place 
of refuge was seen as early as 1614. 




INDIAN NOTES 



THE BRONX 


115 


By the same connection, the only prac- 
ticable route may be traced by which the 
village of Snakapins (8) could be reached 
on the modern Clasons point. An old 
lane which left the Unionport road and 
passed over the property of the New York 
Catholic Protectory, led nearly due south 
across Westchester avenue, to the neck, 
passing on dry ground through the narrow 
space between the heads of Pugsley and 
Barrett creeks, whose marshy areas barred 
access in any other direction. 

Such a trail on Cornells neck would have 
been necessarily more or less crooked, as 
the neck is cut up by small brooks and 
swampy areas, with isolated rocky patches 
which stand up like islands in the surround- 
ing sea of cattail rushes. The old "Mid- 
dle path" down the neck was its probable 
course, as it led directly to the native 
village of Snakapins, which was situated 
on the west side of Soundview avenue, 
at its intersection by Leland avenue. This, 
which is the one local station of which 
the native name was preserved, was dis- 
covered by Alanson Skinner and explored 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





116 


INDIAN PATHS 




in 1918 by him and Amos Oneroad, and the 
results published by the Museum of the 
American Indian, Heye Foundation. 21 

This village-site contained about sixty 
fire-pits and shell-pits, with several human 
burials; and in its vicinity extensive shell- 
beds, on the surface of which hundreds of 
discarded weapons, tools, and fragments 
were gathered by the late Claude L. Turner, 
indicate the planting-fields and fishing 
stations associated with the village life 
of the Siwanoy. 

Returning to the upper Westchester 
or Shore path, which became the old Boston 
post-road, we find its starting point, now 
known as Boston avenue, in the village 
of Kingsbridge. Its course may be traced 
by reference to Map VII, A, C. This 
steep roadway connects at Giles street with 
Sedgwick avenue, where a little south of 
that intersection a small shell-pocket in 
the sidewalk gave an indication of a 
native rest-place alongside the old trail. 
Thence the path proceeded north on the 
latter avenue as far as the point where 
Giles street turns in from Fort Independence. 




INDIAN NOTES 




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THE BRONX 


117 


Here it diverged sharply to the east, passing 
through the northern part of the present 
Jerome reservoir, and it crossed the line 
of the old Croton aqueduct at Van Cortlandt 
avenue, following the course of the latter 
to Jerome avenue. These parts of the 
path are now, of course, lost in the reservoir. 
Making a bend like a flattened S, and crossing 
the Concourse, it turned around the north- 
ern side of the hill on which in the Revolu- 
tion the Negro Fort was constructed, and, 
descending to the Mosholu parkway, it 
went through Mill brook close to its source 
in a little pond situated near Jerome avenue. 
Thence curving northeastward, as Van 
Cortlandt avenue now runs, it passed 
the site of the old Varian homestead, which 
is still standing at Rochambeau street 
(pi. xh), and then continued diagonally 
across the site of the present Williams- 
bridge reservoir, in a northeasterly direc- 
tion, emerging therefrom at the point 
where the old Boston post-road used to 
meet the old Gun Hill road. It ran farther 
northeast to join the present Gun Hill road, 
on which line it turned, and followed it 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





118 


INDIAN PATHS 




eastward across Webster avenue and the 
New York and Harlem Railroad tracks, 
to the site of Williamsbridge, where it made 
a crossing over Bronx river at the place 
known as Cowangongh (120). 

The selection of the crossing of the 
stream at this particular point was doubt- 
less dictated by natural features. It may 
be noted that it is situated on a prominent 
tongue of land, diverting the course of the 
river some distance to the east. The ground 
north of the place selected for the cross- 
ing which now forms part of Woodlawn 
cemetery, is at a higher grade and would 
have made it inconvenient to pass in that 
direction. The river farther south is tor- 
tuous, and the banks appear to have been 
swampy. The position of the crossing was 
thus doubtless designed to take advantage 
of the best conditions for the convenience 
of the traveler. 

From the wading place at Williams - 
bridge the Shore path rose up the hillside 
to the line of the present White Plains 
road, and turning sharply to the north 
followed its course, which may still be 




INDIAN NOTES 



THE BRONX 


119 


traced in the irregular form of part of the 
west side of the avenue, up to 217th 
street. Thence it took the present straight 
course of the highroad over level land 
through Wakefield as far as East 228th street 
where it branched off toward the northeast, 
crossing five blocks diagonally to East 
233d street, where it can be found again 
today as Bussing avenue. On this avenue 
it followed an irregular course to the bound- 
ary-line of the City of Mount Vernon, at 
the intersection of South Twelfth avenue 
and South Seventh street in that city. 
Thence it ran nearly due east, only two 
hundred to four hundred feet north of the 
New York City boundary, directly to the 
native station at old Eastchester village 
(21). The old road may still be traced by 
the ancient bowlder fences and old trees 
growing alongside as it falls sharply down- 
grade toward Hutchinson river. It has 
recently been cut down between high banks 
at the Kingsbridge Road station on the Bos- 
ton and Westchester Railway, the process 
exposing a shell-bed which doubtless indi- 
cates part of the site of the Siwanoy station. 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





120 


INDIAN PATHS 




Reaching the level of the old village 
street where a branch trail from West- 
chester joined it, the path turned sharply 
to the northwest, around the site of the 
old Schoolhouse Number One. Near the 
now abandoned entrance to the old Fowler 
estate, at the foot of the hill on which 
it is said a native "castle" was situated, 
the road turned northeast past St Paul's 
church and its extensive graveyard. 

It may be readily traced as the old un- 
paved country road beyond that point, 
where it meets and becomes Columbus 
avenue, Mount Vernon. It passed up 
a very steep incline at the Marsh View 
farm, and reached the line of East Sixth 
street, which was long known as the old 
Boston post-road, opposite the modern 
Dunham avenue. Here it descended, east 
by north, across the head of the marsh 
bordering Acqueanounck or Hutchinson 
river, and, as previously described (p. 31), 
made for a place where the water passed 
between dry ground on either side, a cross- 
ing-place strategically selected and prob- 
ably crossed on stepping-stones (pi. xin). • 




INDIAN NOTES 








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THE BRONX 


121 


Examination of Map VII, A and B, will 
readily show that the whole direction of 
this ancient path was dictated by the 
impracticability of fording Hutchinson 
river at any point nearer the Sound than 
this place. From this crossing the path 
proceeded on the line of the original Boston 
post-road, through Pelham Manor, to its 
junction with the newer Boston post-road. 
This line it followed to New Rochelle, 
through which it passed by Huguenot 
street, and so by the line of the present 
Boston post-road, through Mamaroneck 
to Connecticut. 

Returning to the village of Eastchester, 
at the site of the old Schoolhouse Number 
One, the branch path which united with 
the Shore path became known as the East- 
chester road. 

In the confirmation of 1666, by Gover- 
nor Nichols, of the tenure of the Ten Farms 
of Eastchester, there is a reference to their 
boundary upon u ye now known and common 
pathway coming up from Westchester." 
This was the ancient native trail, which 
connected the settlements on the East 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





122 



INDIAN PATHS 



River shore and necks in the southeastern 
part of the Borough with the Eastchester 
station and the Shore path (Map VII, B, D). 
Jenkins says, "Before the days of theOest- 
dorp (Westchester) settlers it was a trail 
or path used by the Siwanoy." 18 It passed 
along the meadowlands of Westchester 
creek, starting from Main street at Silver 
street in the village of Westchester, and it 
followed higher ground near the edge of 
the marshes of the Acqueanounck until 
it crossed Pelham Parkway at the site of 
the old Ferris mansion, opposite which is 
the modern Pelham Heath inn. Thence 
passing straight north by west to a junction 
with the old Corsa lane, which runs through 
the tract now known as Pelham-Bay-View 
Park, it led northwest to the present Boston 
post-road (of 1798), where it turned north- 
eastward (pi. xrv) . The old roadway was 
known as the Eastchester road before that 
date, and led only to that village. At 
the Old Point Comfort tavern the newer 
road diverges east to the bridge over the 
creek, but the old pathway necessarily 
kept on the western side, and so passing 



INDIAN NOTES 



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THE BRONX 


123 


northward it joined the Shore path, at the 
old schoolhouse site in Eastchester village. 

Two blocks beyond the crossing of Hutch- 
inson river, in the village of Pelham Manor, 
there diverged from the Shore path another 
trail which led southwardly to Anns hook, 
or Pelham neck, and thus came back within 
the boundaries of the metropolis. It has 
a particular historical interest, having been 
the means of leading the unfortunate 
Mrs Ann Hutchinson to her ill-timed set- 
tlement on the home-lands of the Siwanoy, 
and perhaps it was also the means of leading 
Thomas Pell into the district. It became 
known as, and is still in part called, Wolf's 
lane, as far as the later or New Boston 
post-road. Its course on the opposite side 
of that road was recently traced by William 
R. Montgomery, of Pelham Manor, by 
means of the old bowlder fences and line 
of trees which he found in vacant lots, 
extending to the Split Rock road (once 
miscalled Prospect Hill road, but happily 
renamed), which is the continuation of 
the line of this old Indian pathway. 

The line of this old trail passes the Split 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





124 


INDIAN PATHS 




Rock, crossing the brook near the site 
(22) of Ann Hutchinson's cabin (pi. xv). 
It dips under the New Haven Railroad's 
Harlem Branch, just east of which it meets 
the modern Shore road or parkway. Here 
it doubtless branched north and south. 
In the former direction it led to the nearby 
site (103) of a considerable native station 
situated close to the entrance gate and 
driveway to the one-time Bartow estate. 
This site was recently discovered and explor- 
ed by the Rev. W. R. Blackie, in behalf 
of the Museum of the American Indian, 
Heye Foundation, who so far has uncovered 
a number of fire-pits, a human interment, and 
a dog-burial. Situated as it is on the slope 
on which grew the historic oak tree under 
which Thomas Pell made the bargain for his 
manor with Maminipoe and Wampage, 
the local chieftains, it would seem probable 
that this may have been the site of their 
principal village. The locality of which 
this village formed the center was known 
to the natives as Laaphawachking, denoting 
a plowed or cultivated tract, which may 
well have been the use to which the natives 




INDIAN NOTES 



THE BRONX 


125 


put the level lands once included in the 
Hunter estate, and now turned into the 
happy hunting-ground of golfers. As in 
other cases, the title may have been applied 
also to the village-site. 

A trail appears to have extended farther 
north along the shore- line of Pelham bay. 
It doubtless connected with a wading 
place used by those natives who visited or 
lived on Hunter island (25) , and with those 
who were resident at a station (24) at 
Roosevelts brook, which runs into the 
Sound just below the boundary of the city 
and Pelham Manor, both of which locali- 
ties bear abundant evidences of native 
occupancy. 

Hunter island (25) was a native resort 
of some importance, as upon or near it was 
a great rock known as Mishow, regarded 
by the natives as a feature of their assem- 
blies and discussions. A careful examina- 
tion of the shores of this island and of 
Twin islands fails to determine which of 
the numerous rocks that may be found 
along the tide-swept front would have been 
likely to be the rock in question. There 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





126 


INDIAN PATHS 




are some uninhabitable rocks several hun- 
dred feet away from the shore, which are 
marked on the city map as Michaux Rocks, 
which thus appear to have absorbed the 
aboriginal name. Whatever may have 
been the position of this particularly ven- 
erated stone, it is evident from a number 
of indications that the two islands were 
much frequented by natives, whose arrow- 
heads have been found by scores on the 
sandy beaches, their shell-pits in the interior, 
and their kitchen-middens in sheltered 
coves along the shore. 

The brook now known as Roosevelts 
(24), a name dating back to the acquisition 
of property in that vicinity by that family 
early in the nineteenth century, may have 
been the Maninketsuck which Tooker says 
was a "strong flowing brook" in Pelham. 
This place is favorably situated, sheltered 
and provided with good drinking water, 
and its further exploration by the Museum 
of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, 
may, it is hoped, bring to light further 
evidences of the considerable native popu- 




INDIAN NOTES 



THE BRONX 


127 


lation which by all surface indications would 
seem to have made it their home. 

It would appear that a path must have 
extended beyond this point through the 
eastern part of New Rochelle to the impor- 
tant station at Davenports neck. Such a 
line of path or cartway is shown on a map 
of New Rochelle as early as the year 1710, 
extending from the vicinity of Pelham 
Manor along the shore-line and terminating 
near the head of the Titus Mill-pond, at 
the junction of Davenports neck with the 
mainland. Its course seems to coincide 
with that of the present Pelham and East 
Pelham road, now forming an extension 
of the Shore driveway. 22 

Southward from the Split Rock road the 
other branch trail must have led across the 
head of Bartow creek to the line of the City 
Island road, and following that course would 
cross the swamp at Glovers rock, where 
later the New England men held in check 
the invading army of Great Britain. 
Thence it surely led to that point of land ex- 
tending into Pelham bay (23) , whereon ex- 
tensive beds of shell and carbonized materi- 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





128 


INDIAN PATHS 




als were discovered and explored by Mr 
M. R. Harrington (pi. xvi). He disinterred 
several human burials, which may, as 
alleged by the local historian, the Rev. 
Robert Bolton, have included those of the 
very Siwanoy chieftains who, under the 
Great Tree, sold their heritage to the 
specious Englishmen, bartering away for 
small consideration the broad acres of 
Pelham and Rochelle with their exten- 
sive shore-line, abundant fisheries, virgin 
forest, and well-watered uplands. 




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V.— INDIAN PATHS IN KINGS 
COUNTY 

(Maps VIII, A, B, C, D) 

HE Borough of Brooklyn covers 
an area which afforded consid- 
erable advantages for Indian 
residence. Its fishing and hunting 
facilities must have been superior and 
were capable of supporting a numerous 
population. The extensive shell-beds 
which are found at certain parts of 
the shore-line indicate a long period of 
settlement, and it is considered by Wood 
that the course of native migration had 
proceeded from the western end of Long 
Island to the eastern part. The tract 
composing the present borough, on the 
arrival of the white settlers was found to 
be largely a timbered district, around the 
margin of which the native stations were 
planted. The timber, however, was scant 
in quantity, as a result of the native practice 



129 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



130 


INDIAN PATHS 




of annually burning off the underbrush, 
for the purpose of clearing spaces for culti- 
vation and for the attraction of deer and 
smaller game. Large tracts of uplands 
were planted with corn, but the interior 
area was destitute of occupied stations, 
owing to the absence of watercourses. 
Compared with the large area of Kings 
county, the number of known stations is 
relatively small, and precise observations 
were not made in past times as to position 
and character. The interest and labor of 
modern local observers such as Austin, 
Armbruster, and Dove, in exploring and 
recording the position and condition of 
native occupied sites, together with the 
slender references in existing histories, 
have resulted in locating probably all of 
the chief places of residence of the one-time 
owners of the county. What is lacking, 
however, in regard to the native stations, 
is compensated by the existence of consider- 
able definite information on the subject 
of native pathways. Records fortunately 
exist, by which the main Indian trails are 
identified with the King's highways and 




INDIAN NOTES 



KINGS COUNTY 


131 


other old roadways which became the suc- 
cessors of native paths, so that their actual 
course is now traceable, and their systematic 
purpose becomes recognizable. 

The ingenious selection of their routes, 
their adaptation to topographical contours, 
and the connection they provided between 
the various native communities, are readily 
perceived on a study of the accompanying 
maps. Equally marked is the influence 
of these humble trails on the after-develop- 
ment of the great borough, as the pro- 
genitors of those arteries of traffic by 
reason of which old Brooklyn and its neigh- 
bors grew up together and ultimately 
became united in one great community. 

From far eastern regions the Long Island 
natives made their way along the Rockaway 
path to Brooklyn, and were joined by the 
Canarsee and the Nayack, converging by 
several byways along ancient paths, and 
uniting at the present Fulton ferry, where 
a short crossing of the East river brought 
them to Manhattan. 

The strategic importance of the south end 
of that island is well illustrated by the 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





132 


INDIAN PATHS 


• 


evident trend of these Long Island paths 
toward the same place as that upon which 
the mainland trails converged from the 
north and east. 

The area of Kings county was occupied 
at the time of the white men's invasion 
chiefly by the Canarsee. A sub-chieftaincy 
called the Marechkawick or Mareyckawick, 
occupied old Brooklyn. Stations are known 
to have existed at Flatlands, at Canarsie, 
at Bergen island, and at Gerritsen basin. 
Careful exploration of these village sites 
has been lacking, notwithstanding all 
the street grading and extensive building 
operations which have metamorphosed 
much of the surface of the present 
borough. Their neighbors on the Fort 
Hamilton tract, known as Nayack, were 
some of those Manhattan Indians who had 
sold their home-lands to the Dutch in 
1626. Their territory extended on the 
east to the boundary of the old township 
of Newtown, wherein their neighbors and 
probably near relatives, the Rockaway, 
were resident. 

Gabriel Furman 23 fortunately recorded 




INDIAN NOTES 



KINGS COUNTY 


133 


some early observations of sites occupied 
by the Marechkawick. In 1824, when 
the street development of modern Brooklyn 
was in progress, "heads of Indian arrows, 
beds of oyster and clam shells, denoting 
the former residence of the aborigines, 
are frequently found in different parts of 
the town." There were thus, in all prob- 
ability, several groups situated within the 
area occupied by the Marechkawick, settled 
in favorable situations about the broad 
waters and marshes of the Wallabout and 
the Gowanus which .bounded the old 
township. 

The most definite of these early discov- 
eries is a site (66) which was exposed in the 
year 1826, on an eminence in the Fourth 
ward, which Furman precisely locates at 
Bridge street between Front and York 
streets, where, on a grass-grown hill sur- 
mounted by three conspicuous buttonwood 
trees, there were found burnt stones doubt- 
less forming part of the fireplaces of native 
lodges. Below the sod an extensive deposit 
was uncovered, consisting of ashes, shells, 
and carbonized material, with which were 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





134 


INDIAN PATHS 




mingled such objects as coarse pottery 
and arrowheads. Furman further notes 
that clay tobacco-pipes were discovered 
on this site, which indicate the occupancy 
of the place after white men had come in 
contact with the Indians. This village 
was not far from a water-supply in a brook 
rising nearby and entering Wallabout bay. 
It was doubtless situated on the southern 
side of the hill, which is shown on the 
Ratzer survey (see Map VIII, A) as situated 
between two other eminences upon the neck 
of land between the approach to the Brook- 
lyn bridge and the Navy Yard. This 
station was directly south, across the waters 
of East river, from the village of Rechtauck, 
on Corlears hook, and probably in full 
sight of the Werpoes hill on Manhattan. 
Its vicinity is now completely covered by 
modern streets and buildings. The tract 
of land on which it was situated was called 
Rinnegaconck, 24 which later became known 
as the Wallabout. As in other instaces, 
it would seem probable that the name 
would have been applied to the village 
as well as to its vicinity. The tract was 




INDIAN NOTES 



KINGS COUNTY 


135 


sold in 1637, "by special order of the rulers 
and consent of the community. " 

The name of Wallabout bay, which is so 
conspicuous a feature of the locality, has 
been attributed to Dutch origin as "Wall- 
boght," but it may be noted, as at least 
a coincidence, that the Delaware word 
waloh means "a ditch," and might not 
unreasonably be assumed to have been 
its original native name, adopted and 
modified by their successors. 

The first white settlement in Brooklyn 
was made upon the site of the native village 
known as Marechkawick (117). 25 This 
would locate that Indian station at the old 
settlement which was built up on both sides 
of the native path, now Fulton street, in 
the vicinity of Lawrence and Jay streets. 
The name of the chieftaincy is denned by 
Tooker as meaning "at his fortified house," 
indicating some strategic and elevated 
position in which, for defensive purposes, 
the natives could gather behind a wall of 
palisades. A village-site alongside the 
path had no substantial elevation above 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





136 


INDIAN PATHS 




the contiguous area, nor had it any nearby 
source of water. Its position, however, 
was on the elevated tract of Brooklyn 
Heights, and its importance lay in its situa- 
tion at the narrowest part of the neck of 
upland between the marshes of Gowanus 
and Wallabout, through the center of which 
the main pathway passed. Between Gal- 
latin place and Elm place, where the old 
path diverged from its course somewhat to 
the southwest, would appear to have been 
the most likely position of this station, 
which bore the name and was doubtless 
the headquarters of the chieftaincy. 

On Fulton street at Hoyt street, there 
was established in later years the village 
cemetery, possibly succeeding native in- 
terments in favorable soil. The path here 
swerved slightly to the west toward the 
cemetery site. 

The Dutch Church was built on the 
east side of the line of the trail, and then 
the highway was opened on its eastern side, 
making the church plot an "island between 
two parts of the road." 

There was another station in the vicinity 




INDIAN NOTES 



KINGS COUNTY 


137 


of old Brooklyn of which more definite 
record is available. It is that which was 
known as Werpos (67) or Worpus, a name 
similar to that of the Manhattan village 
at the Kalch Hoek. Its position seems to 
have been in the immediate vicinity of the 
old dwelling of Fredrick Lubbersen, which 
was situated at Warren and Hoyt streets, 
in the old Tenth ward of Brooklyn. This 
dwelling was erected at the head of the 
branch of Gowanus creek which penetrated 
nearest to the village of Marechkawick 
and to the early white settlement which 
became its successor. The grant, which 
was dated 27 May, 1640, comprised "a 
certain piece of land upon the Long Island 
near Marechkawingh about Werpos, reaching 
in breadth from the kil and valley that come 
from Gowanes N. W. by N. and from the 
strand on the East River S. E. by E. ; 
1700 paces of three feet each, and in length 
from the head of the aforesaid kil N. E. 
by E., and S. W. by W. to the Red Hook, 
under the express condition that if the 
savages shall voluntarily give up the maize 
land in the aforesaid piece, Fredrick Lub- 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





138 


INDIAN PATHS 




bersen shall be allowed to enter upon it in 
the width and extent of it." 

This maize-land, a native corn-field, 
is stated by Teunis G. Bergen 27 to have 
extended along the east side of Court 
street, between Atlantic avenue and Baltic 
street. It was doubtless bounded on the 
westerly side by the trail that later became 
Red Hook lane, which made a sharp bend 
at Pacific street probably around the corner 
of the maize-field. It was known in 1642 
as "Sassian's maize-land," a name denoting 
"the sower," and the natives continued 
its cultivation until that date, after which 
they probably sold it to Lubbersen, since 
in 1645 it was described as "Frederick 
Lubbertsen's maize-land." The home 
which he established in its vicinity was 
close to the place called Werpos, near which 
there was a large Indian burying-ground, 
the interments in which were disturbed in 
the leveling of the vicinity for city devel- 
opment. In a court trial in 1741, some 
interesting testimony was given in regard 
to this locality, one witness recalling that 
old Jacob Hanse who lived in the old Lub- 




INDIAN NOTES 



KINGS COUNTY 


139 


bersen dwelling, ''said at his house 
on talking of Worpus — there's Worpus — 
pointing with his finger thro' his window 
to the head of the creek by his garden." 
The house doubtless faced south or south- 
west, and across the garden at the head of the 
creek there was a small hillock which may 
well have been the native site, occupying 
the intersection of Hoyt and Baltic streets. 
The place was so favorably situated in 
regard to shelter and water springs that 
it not only attracted to it the natives, but 
their successor, Lubbersen. It was prob- 
ably reached by a branch trail from Red 

Hook lane, that extended between Warren 

• 

and Wyckoff streets. 

In the same proceedings an old woman, 
Maritie Bevors, then 84 years of age, re 
membered going from Brookland "by the 
house of Lubbertse, and saw many little 
hills in the way from the house to the mill 
[B rower's mill] along the neck and enquired 
what the hills were and was answered by 
them with her that it was the Indian corn- 
land." It thus appears probable that the 
Werpos natives had other planting-grounds 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





140 


INDIAN PATHS 




along the neck toward Red hook, probably 
around Second and Third streets, west 
of Court street. _ 

The main Indian path that extended 
through the Borough of Brooklyn com- 
menced at the shore of the East river at the 
foot of the present Fulton street, and fol- 
lowed the line of that thoroughfare and Flat- 
bush avenue as far as Flatlands village, and 
thence extended as the present King's 
highway, to Gravesend and New Utrecht. 
Flint 26 says, "The early settlers widened 
this trail into a wagon road which retained 
for many years this rural character." 
It wa.s not until 1704 that the route was 
ordered to be laid out as a King's highway, 
"all along to Brooklyn towne afforesaid 
through the lane that now is." The route 
was admirably adapted to connect the 
native settlements on the Brooklyn penin- 
sula with those which were situated near 
the southerly shores at favorable places 
all the way from Canarsie to Fort Hamilton. 
It began at the nearest point of approach 
to the Island of Manhattan, thus affording 
a connection with its pathway that in 

> 




INDIAN NOTES 



KINGS COUNTY 


141 


turn communicated with the north and 
east mainland. From the landing at the 
foot of the later Fulton street, the heights 
were accessible by a reasonable grade, 
and at or near Prospect street a trail doubt- 
less branched off to the village at Rinne- 
gaconck. The path, following our present 
Fulton street, turned southeast at the 
Municipal building, near which point the 
old Red Hook lane branched off and led by 
a side path to the settlement at Werpos. 
This branchtrail made a sharp turn, as pre- 
viously mentioned, to avoid some obstruc- 
tion, perhaps the native planting-ground at 
Pacific street, and then followed the line 
of Court street directly to Degraw street, 
whence another old lane, which was existing 
in the eighteenth century, led southwesterly 
through the native corn-fields as described 
by old Maritie Bevors, to Red hook. 

Near the intersection of Nevins street 
with Fulton street the main pathway has 
now become Flatbush avenue, as it turned 
southward (pi. xvn). On its way over 
the range of hills on which Prospect park 
is situated, the present Flatbush avenue is 


• 


AND MONOGRAPHS 





142 



INDIAN PATHS 



laid out somewhat to the west of the course 
of the old path. It diverged east of the 
avenue at Hamon place, crossing Atlantic 
avenue at Fort Greene place. At this 
point two important branches set off west 
and east. The former was that which 
afterward became the Gowanus road, lead- 
ing to the district bordering on Gowanus 
bay, where native settlements existed. 
One of these was the site of the De Hart 
Bergen dwelling near Third avenue at 
37th street (110). At this early settlement 
natives were still making their home as 
late as 1679, when Sluyter and Dankers, 
the Labadist monks, enjoyed the hospi- 
tality of the homestead, and noted in their 
diary the abundance and enormous size 
of the oysters gathered in the vicinity. 
Another nearby station was evidenced by 
the discovery by Adam Dove of a num- 
ber of artifacts in the cut for the Shore 
Line railroad at 37th street between Sixth 
and Seventh avenues (109). Other traces 
were found in Sunset Park near the lake. 
There was a native path somewhat 
farther southeast, paralleling the Gowanus 



INDIAN NOTES 



' 31 , • &' -r 










KINGS COUNTY 



road, the course of which was on the lines 
of Sixth and Seventh avenues. It is shown 
in part on a survey of the properties along 
Gowanus bay, made in the year 1696 by Au- 
gustus Graham, and reproduced by Stiles. 27 
The portion of this path thus recorded 
appears to have run in the direction best 
suited to travel from Fort Hamilton to old 
Brooklyn, and may very probably have been 
an extension of the old trail, which became 
the King's highway, rejoining the latter 
about the line of Fifth avenue in Bay Ridge. 
This old path passes very near the place at 
37th street where Indian objects were found, 
as above mentioned, and its extension across 
the center of Greenwood cemetery is directly 
toward the main line of trail on Flatbush 
avenue at or near Battle pass in Prospect 
Park (pi. xviii). It is the trail mentioned 
in a declaration made 4 April, 1677, by two 
natives, "Zemo Kamingh otherwise known 
in his walks (or travels) as Kaus Hansen," 
and "Kenrom, both Indians," who recorded 
the bounds of the land of Paulus Vander- 
beeck to be "'a certain tree or stump on 
the Long Hill on the one side, and on the 



143 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



144 



INDIAN PATHS 



other the end of the Indian footpath, and 
that it extends to the creek of the third 
meadow, which land was previously sold 
by chief or sachem Ka." 28 

That there were two paths in the Gowanus 
district is evidenced in a grant of April 
5, 1642, by Kieft to Cornells Cool, of land 
u called Gouwanes reaching in width from 
the wagon road running through said land 
and Jan Petersen's land lying along the 
river," which further stipulated that the 
paths running over this piece of land shall 
remain open. 29 It seems very likely that 
this district was occupied by the natives 
whose chieftain was Gouwanes, since his 
name has persisted as its title. The old 
Gowanus road wound crookedly around the 
margin of the marshes, and near Fourth ave- 
nue, at 35th street, it became the old Nar- 
rows lane, which extended on some undefined 
course to the vicinity of Fort Hamilton, 
which was the district known as Nayack. 
Near 86th street it probably ran into the 
King's highway, the westerly end of the an- 
cient path known as Mechawanienck. It 
thus formed the connection by which we may 



INDIAN NOTES 



KINGS COUNTY 


145 


assume that the Manhattan natives resi- 
dent at Nayack were wont to pass on their 
way to revisit their one-time home, and such 
of their relatives as still clung to the island. 
A little south of Gowanus lane the main 
pathway divided. To the east it diverged 
toward Bedford, and southward it ran to 
Flatlands. Of the two, the former was 
probably the more important, since it 
extended through the borough of Queens 
to the heart of Long Island. It ran nearly 
due east, along the base of the Green hills, 
and was known in early days as the Rocka- 
way path, as it gave access to the country 
of that chieftaincy. Within the Borough 
of Brooklyn it followed first the line of At- 
lantic avenue, reaching Bedford Four- 
corners at the present Bedford avenue. 
Here another path, the old Cripplebush 
road, set off northward, extending to the 
Newtown turnpike road, which reached the 
districts of Bush wick, Williamsburg, and 
Greenpoint. There are no records nor 
observations of native residence in these 
localities, although the shore-line might 
have afforded good opportunities for fish- 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





146 


INDIAN PATHS 




ing. The heads of the extensive inlets 
at South Williamsburg, and that known 
as Bushwick inlet, would have been good 
localities to examine for Indian remains 
before they were filled in to present levels. 
The whole area was covered with keavy 
timber, of which the name Bushwick may 
be reminiscent, while Greenpoint or Grenen 
Hont Punt is evidently the Green Wood 
point from which the early settlers obtained 
their supply of hemlock poles. Greenpoint 
and Williamsburg were reached from the 
old trail on the present Flushing avenue, 
by the Bushwick road, a winding lane of 
which a small part still exists in Bushwick 
place, at the Bushwick Railroad station 
of the Long Island railroad. This road 
may have originated in an Indian trail. 
The old Wood Point road joined it at 
Metropolitan avenue, and extended up to 
Greenpoint. If the natives were accus- 
tomed to visit Greenpoint, this old track 
doubtless followed their woodland trail. 
It was certainly the first path trodden by the 
white men in that district. 




INDIAN NOTES 



VI— THE HOME-LANDS OF THE 
CANARSEE 

(Map VIII, C, D) 

RETURNING to the main path at 
Atlantic avenue near Fort Greene 
place, we follow its course south- 
ward. It ran as far east of 
Flatbush avenue as the intersection of 
Prospect and Vanderbilt avenues, and 
passed* east of the Plaza, across Eastern 
Parkway, reaching a lofty place on the site 
of Prospect reservoir. This place was 
probably selected as a lookout. Thence 
the trail turned across Institute Park into 
Prospect Park, through the famous Battle 
pass of the Revolution, west of the present 
avenue, emerging from the park at Malbone 
street, whence it followed the present avenue 
through Flatbush and as far south as East 
26th street. It passed through the Valley 
grove, as the region about Midwood street 
was aptly titled, and thence almost due 



147 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



148 


INDIAN PATHS 




south through the woodlands of Flatbush. 
Where Cortelyou road now touches Flat- 
bush avenue, the old Canarsie lane set off 
eastwardly, extending directly to the plant- 
ing lands of the Canarsee chieftaincy, at 
the modern Canarsie, and the neck of land 
extending to Beach Park (pi. xix). This 
old lane seems to have been a natural line 
of access to this important locality, though 
no record of its use as a trail is existent. 
On the west it joined Cortelyou road and 
"the little lane" which led toward New 
Utrecht. Canarsie lane formed the north 
boundary of the first white settlement in 
the locality known as Achterveldt, a trian- 
gular tract bounded on the southwest by 
the main Indian path, and on the southeast 
by the Flatlands Neck road, another native 
pathway. Through the center of this tract 
the Paardegat inlet extended as far west 
as East 31st street at Foster avenue. This 
long watercourse, known in later years as 
Bedford creek, gave access by water to the 
vicinity of the path from Jamaica bay, 
and it is not improbable that the natives 
making their way to and from Bergen 




INDIAN NOTES 




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THE CANARSEE 


149 


beach and Canarsie beach may have utilized 
it to avoid a tramp of four miles. 

The modern Canarsie, which was part 
of the township of Flatlands, or Nieuw 
Amersfoort, was an extensive station of 
the Canarsee (51). It is first mentioned 
(Jan. 21, 1647) in a grant by Governor 
Kieft to settlers of "a certaine tract of 
land situate on the south side of Long 
Island called Canarsie with all the meadows 
belonging." The name signifies "at or 
about the fence" — or, in other words, 
"the fenced-in place." The Dutch culti- 
vated part of the lands in this tract with 
the consent of the Indians prior to any 
purchase being made, and they doubtless 
fenced in the crops of both white and red 
cultivators. This name, therefore, seems 
to have been applied generally to the fenced- 
in area, the center of which was the pres- 
ent Canarsie, to which the natives clung, 
and stipulated in their sale of April 16, 
1665, that "the purchasers once for always 
a fence shall set at Canarissen for the pro- 
tection of the Indians cultivation." Bounds 
of such a cultivated area may be indicated 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





150 


INDIAN PATHS 




by the old lanes which surround Canarsie, 
such as Varkens Hook road, Hobson lane, 
and the Mill road. 

Canarsie neck is marked on old maps 
as "Canarsee Planting Land" (pi. xx). 
The native settlement seems to have been 
near Beach Park, where numerous objects 
of native manufacture have been found by 
D. B. Austin and others. 

The most important native station, how- 
ever, was that known as Keskaechquerem 
or Keskaechqueren (104) , a name which 
indicates a place of meeting for some 
public purpose. The importance of Kes- 
kaechquerem as a meeting place for the 
natives coming from all directions would 
indicate its situation at some point where 
the main lines of travel converge. The 
station on Canarsie neck does not appear 
favorably in this regard. It seems to have 
been more of a place for the cultivation of 
crops and the manufacture of wampum. 
The most natural position for a place of 
meeting in this locality is Flatlands (104), 
a place where a known station existed, 
which is situated at the junction of paths 




INDIAN NOTES 







a. 

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THE CANARSEE 


151 


converging from four directions. At this 
place the "ancient path" from the west 
united with the main path from Manhattan 
on the north. It was reached by the trail 
on the Flatlands Neck road and HunterfLy 
road from the northeast, connecting with 
the Rockaway path. Nearby was Winip- 
pague, the Bergen Beach factory of wam- 
pum, and the large stations at Gerritsen 
basin and on Canarsie neck. 

From Clarendon road the main path, 
following Flatbush avenue, turned southeast 
on a straight line to this station at Flat- 
lands (104), six and a half miles from East 
river. This was the earliest white planta- 
tion, named Nieuw Amersfoort, embracing 
a broad tract of cultivable land. At 
this place the old trail divided, passing 
east to Winippague or Bergen beach, and 
west to Gravesend and New Utrecht. The 
Flatlands tract as granted June 16, 1636, 
comprised all the land between Gerritsen 
creek and Paardegat creek, including mod- 
ern South Flatbush, Yandeveer Park, and 
Westminster Heights Park. This, however, 
did not include Winippague, for that island 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





152 


INDIAN PATHS 




was granted to Captain John Underbill 
ten years later as a reward for his doughty 
services in slaughtering troublesome natives. 
The little settlement of Nieuw Amersfoort 
grew up at the intersection of the Indian 
paths, around a native station, the site 
of which became that of the church, while 
the Indians' burial-ground became its 
churchyard. Frederick Van Wyck 30 states 
that this place was the seat of religious 
rites, and relates also that Indian remains 
were disturbed from time to time in the 
burying-ground. The supply of water 
within this settlement, upon which it 
depended, was a spring at the head of a 
small stream leading to Jamaica bay. 
This brook extended between Avenues 
K and L, and found an outlet in the water- 
course that made of Winippague an island. 
Flatlands thus appears to have been, from 
all these circumstances, and from its situa- 
tion in the general direction in which the 
council-place was undoubtedly situated, 
the Keskaechquerem referred to in several 
of the early sales of lands. Its sachems 
in 1638 were Kakapetteyno, Menquaeruan, 




INDIAN NOTES 



TH E CANARSEE 


153 


and Suwiran. With Pewichaus, the local 
owner, the first-named sachem agreed to 
the sale in 1637 of Governors island, and 
the Rinnegaconck tract at Wallabout. 
The three chiefs entered into the deed for 
the sale in the following year of the great 
tract of Bushwick. 

Into this station a trail, the later 
Flatlands Neck road, came from New 
Lots. On this road, at the place of its 
crossing the Paardegat, there stood a 
white oak tree (on the line of Avenue G) 
which in 1666 marked the boundary of the 
township, and was so described in the Don- 
gan patent of 1685. The place was known 
to the natives as Muskyttehool, a Dutch 
application of the word, hole, to the 
Indian word musquetaug, "a place of 
rushes," very well describing the charac- 
teristic feature of the Paardegat (pi. xxi). 
This path was a direct means of communi- 
cation between the Flatlands station and 
Canarsie. It connected directly with the 
Hunterfly Road trail, of which it was evi- 
dently an extension, at the sharp bend 
in the latter at Howard and Sutter avenues 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





154 


INDIAN PATHS 




in East New York. It thus formed a short 
cut to Keskaechquerem from the Rocka- 
way path. 

From the Flatlands station another path 
must have extended to a well-defined native 
settlement at Bergen Beach (52), known 
to the natives as Winippague, or "fine 
water place." Practically an island, it 
was reached from the Flatlands district 
only by passing over a tract of marsh-land 
through which a crooked waterway mean- 
dered. The latter was crossed in Colonial 
times by the old Bergen Beach road at 
East 69th street and Avenue T, which is 
the narrowest part of the meadow. This 
old road connected with the Mill road which 
ran from Flatlands village at the point 
where the King's highway turned off from 
the present Flatbush avenue. We may 
reasonably assume that these old lanes 
were successors of the native trails. 
Scattered objects found upon the island 
indicate native residence there, and masses 
of discarded shells decide the position of a 
considerable Indian industry within its 
area. It was in fact one of the places where 




INDIAN NOTES 



BOLTON - INDIAN PATHS IN THE GREAT METROPOLIS 




THE INDIAN VILLAGE-SITE AT GERRITSEN BASIN, FROM A SURVEY AND OBSERVATIONS BY D. B. AUSTIN 



THE CANARSEE 


155 


the important manufacture of wampum 
was carried on. The position of native resi- 
dence might be expected to have been on 
the northern part of the island, near Avenue 
U and the Grand esplanade, because that 
part was near a fresh-water supply, and 
had a good beach for use as a canoe landing, 
while the southern part was bordered by 
marsh and had no stream nearby. 

From these observations it will be evi- 
dent that the native station at Flatlands 
occupied an advantageous and commanding 
position. It grew up at the junction of 
four important paths. It might well have 
been a wayside stopping-place where all 
the native gossips exchanged information. 
It could hardly have escaped being a center 
of barter for goods in exchange for fish 
and mollusks. We have warrant for assum- 
ing it to have been occupied for a long period, 
as the path that led westward from it was 
known to the Indians as Mechawanienck, 
"the ancient pathway." That name is 
recorded in a deed of 1652 in which the 
path was described as the southern bound- 
ary of a great tract extending from Gowanus. 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





156 


INDIAN PATHS 




Mechawanienck later became the "wagon 
path," under which name it is described 
in the Gravesend deed for the tract known 
as Makeopaca in 1682. We now find it 
retaining the name of Kings highway, which 
was applied in 1704, and as such it can still 
be followed from Flatlands through Kings 
Oaks and South Bensonhurst nearly to New 
Utrecht, where, at the present time, it 
ends at the intersection of Twenty-first 
avenue and 79th street. But in prehistoric 
days it ran through New Utrecht on the 
line of the modern 83d and 84th streets 
as far as Fifteenth avenue, beyond which 
its crooked course to the Fort Hamilton 
Parkway is entirely lost in the modern 
street lines. 

An early transaction in 1636, between 
certain natives of Keskaechquerem and 
Jacobus van Corlaer, conveyed to the latter 
a tract of salt marsh, called Castuteeuw, 
or Kes-asketu, i.e., "where grass is cut." 
This is described as being "the middlemost 
of three flats," which may be identified 
as those marshy areas that bound the 




INDIAN NOTES 



THE CANARSEE 


157 


Canarsie neck of cultivated land along the 
margin of Jamaica bay. 

The "middlemost" is apparently that 
tract which now includes Canarsie Beach 
Park, and is bounded on the westward by 
the Bestevaars kill or Paardegat basin. 
It was accessible by some pathway such 
as the old Meadow lane still shown upon the 
city map. 

"The westernmost of the flats, called 
Kestateuw," was the tract of meadow 
through which Paardegat creek makes its 
way, and "the easternmost" was the great 
marsh bounded by Fresh creek. Of these 
the western meadow became known, in 
1652, as Amersfoort flat, or the flat "at the 
bay," and the title is still continued on 
modern maps. 

Proceeding from Flatlands westward, 
by the King's highway and its predecessor, 
the Ancient Path, another important native 
settlement was reached, which was situated 
at Gerritsen basin. This deep tidal inlet, 
extending northward from the waters 
separating Coney Island from the mainland, 
is also known as Ryders pond, though its 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





158 


INDIAN PATHS 




early colonial title was the Strome kill. 
Its head is a natural lake, the water in 
which was readily impounded by Hugh 
Gerritsen, who erected a dam and tide 
gate, with a flour mill, both of which are 
still existing. It was admirably suited to 
aboriginal residence, and was extensively 
utilized. 

A branch trail must have set off from the 
main path in a southerly direction, probably 
on the line of Ryders lane at East 25th 
street, extending south to a junction with 
the old Gravesend Neck road, by which the 
Indian station (50) was probably reached. 
This place, on which some Indian burials 
were disturbed in the grading of Avenue' 
U, and many objects found by D. B. Austin 
which evidenced native residence, will, 
it is hoped, be further explored by the 
Museum of the American Indian, Heye 
Foundation. 

Fortunately a great part of the tract, 
including the pond and contiguous upland 
and marsh, will be preserved as a public 
park, by the recent generous gift of Messrs 
F. B. Pratt and A. T. White. Its area 




INDIAN NOTES 




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THE CANARSEE 



159 



is illustrated in Map IX. Native occu- 
pancy extended over a considerable space on 
the western side of the basin. The water 
supply was provided by a good spring 
which is still running, and a broad and 
very fertile tract of farm land extends 
west of the site of the village which may 
be identified as the Indian Shanscomacocke. 

Mashanscomacocke, "a much enclosed 
place," was the name of a tract in the 
vicinity of Flatlands, which was sold in 
1664 by natives (pi. xxii). It included 
features that identify it as the Gerritsen 
Basin station. 

"Upland and marshes, anyway belonging 
thereto, as the Strawn [Strome] Beach or 
Beaches, as namely that running out more 
westerly, with the Island adjoining, and is 
at the same time by the ocean sea wholly 
inclosed, called hoopaninak and Shans- 
comacocke, and Macutteris." 

The situation of the tracts included in 
the sale are evidently in the vicinity of 
the Strome beach. Now, the beach at 
the Strome kill, which is situated at the 
mill-dam, was an important feature of the 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



160 



INDIAN PATHS 



locality. It was particularly dedicated to 
public use, and the Gravesend Neck road 
extended to it (pi. xxin, xxiv). On 
the upland above the beach was the Indian 
burying-ground, where D. B. Austin un- 
covered interments having the appearance 
of being regularly disposed, about 35 feet 
apart. At this beach Hugh Gerritsen 
established his home, and all along the 
margin of the pond from the beach the 
natives have left abundant evidence of 
their occupancy of the upland which rises 
quite abruptly above the high-tide level 
in the pond (pi. xxn). 

The pond had other points of access, 
notably a sandy beach at the promontory 
near Avenue T, so that the inclusion of 
the Strome beach, or beaches, in the con- 
veyance of 1664, indicates that the sellers 
were describing its characteristic features. 
The name Shanscomacocke appears to be 
that which is intended to describe this en- 
closed pond area, and as such was probably 
the name of the village on its margin. 

The marshes "anyway belonging thereto" 
would have been the extensive tract of 



INDIAN NOTES 



BOLTON— INDIAN' PATHS 




OLD GRAVESEND NECK ROAD TO THE STROME BEACH, AT 

ITS TURN SOUTH TOWARD HUGH GERRITSEN'S MILL 

AND HOUSE. (STATION 50, MAP VIII, D) 

The left foreground when plowed disturbed Indian burials, part of the 

native settlement of Shanscomacocke Photograph by D. B. Austin, 1900. 



THE CANARSEE 


161 


salt meadows on either side of the Strome 
kill, and the particular reference to "that 
running out more westerly" points to the 
great tract between the kill and Shellbank 
creek, being well described by the name 
Macutteris, or Moskituash,- "a meadow." 
The "island adjoining," which "is by the 
ocean sea wholly inclosed," indicates Plumb 
island, a meadow island which is practically 
in ocean water. Barren island, or Equendito, 
which is also contiguous to the tracts of 
meadow, had been already disposed of by 
another transaction, in the previous month 
of April, and on Mill island, also adjoining, 
the family of Captain John Schenck had 
been settled for ten years, at Avenue V and 
East 62d street. We may therefore reason- 
ably presume that the village (50) to which 
the natives clung, as shown by a later deed, 
at least until 1684, was known as Shans- 
comacocke. The site was then included 
within the tract known as Makeopaca, 
which in that year was confirmed to the 
inhabitants of Gravesend. By this deed, 
natives of the Gravesend district, who we 
may assume to have been those still resi- 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





162 


INDIAN PATHS 




dent on the Gerritsen basin village-site, 
confirmed the sale of the northern part of 
the area which was included within the 
township of Gravesend. The bounds of 
Makeopaca, 'a great cleared space," are 
carefully detailed, and evidently included 
all of the area within the township (north 
of the line of the Gravesend Neck road, 
and of Lake lane) which had not been 
specifically included in those prior deals by 
which the site of the village, the Narrioch 
neck (69), and Mannahanning, or Coney 
island, had been secured by the white settlers. 
Makeopaca began at "the most eastward 
end of the beach called by the Indians 
Moeung, or "black miry, place," that is, 
at the head of Harway basin, where the 
old Beach lane reached Gravesend bay. 
It extended eastward along the Gravesend 
Neck road as far as Strome kill, or Gerrit- 
sen basin, thus taking in the village-site 
at that place (50) . Passing up this creek 
the bounds extended "from the head of 
said creek through the middle of the meadow 
[between Avenues P and Q], till they come 
to a white oak tree standing by the Flatland 




INDIAN NOTES 



THE CANARSEE 



163 



wagon path." This was the ancient trail, 
Mechawanienck, by that time expanded to 
the width of a wagon. Along this path 
the measurement proceeded "soe running 
to another white oak tree standing by 
Utrecht wagon path," which was the 
western extension of the same old line of 
travel. This tree stood close to Avenue 
0, at West 10th street. A line drawn from 
the first point on the beach, through this 
tree, made the western boundary of Grave- 
send, "soe on a direct line to the Flatbush 
fence," which was struck at Foster avenue 
near Ocean parkway, meeting a similar 
line drawn on the east side from the head 
of Gerritsen creek through the white-oak 
tree first mentioned. 

The old path on the line of the King's 
highway led farther west to Gravesend 
(105), where there were settlements of 
natives which have not been precisely locat- 
ed. In a deed of 1650 the region was known 
as Massabarkem. 31 This name applied 
to the west part of Gravesend neck, 
lying between Gravesend creek and the 
inlet which extends north from Sheepshead 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



164 



INDIAN PATHS 



bay on the line of East 12th street and 
Homecrest avenue. The name was mis- 
handled by the scribe who engrossed the 
conveyance, but can be identified as Massa, 
"large," and peauke, "water-land," or land 
at the many waters, which aptly describes 
its situation, surrounded as it was by the 
meandering streams in three marshy tracts. 

The eastern part of Gravesend neck was 
the native Narrioch (69), naiag, "a neck," 
auke, "land," or "a point of land." Upon 
this tract is the Coney Island Jockey Club's 
racing ground. It was bounded on the 
east by Shellbank creek, a name strongly 
indicative of native residence. 

The neck was probably an appurtenance 
of the natives of the Gerritsen Basin station, 
and its grantor, Guttaquoh, was perhaps 
the sachem of that settlement. Through 
these tracts the Gravesend Neck road con- 
nected the early settlements of Lady Moody 
and her companions, with the home and 
mill of Hugh Gerritsen at the Strome beach. 
It is so natural a line of travel, though it 
paralleled the Mechawanienck trail, that 
it can hardly fail to have been the successor 



INDIAN NOTES 




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THE CANARSEE 


165 


of a native pathway extending westward 
from the beach to the stations at Grave- 
send (pi. xxv). 

With the Narrioch tract the natives 
also passed title to Mannahanning, or 
"land on an island," being the contiguous 
area of what is now known as Coney 
Island. It may be noted that this name 
was originally applied only to the western 
extremity, which in those early days was 
a separate island. The remainder was 
further divided into two parts by a marshy 
area which was submerged at high tide. 
This extended east of Luna Park, where a 
small inlet set in from Coney Island creek 
on the line of Overton place., The eastern 
island was at first known as Gysbert's 
eylandt, and both were known as late as 
1824 as Schryers hook. 

The island was doubtless reached from 
the mainland by a path which led direct 
from the site of Gravesend village (105) 
by what became later the old Shell road. 
This crossed the creek at a point where 
there was a little dry islet, and 
the road was marked on the Goodrich 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





166 


INDIAN PATHS 




map of 1824 as being "fordable at low 
water." 

Another old road led westward from 
Gravesend, which was known as Lake lane. 
It extended as Beach lane to the shore of 
Gravesend bay, at Bay 45th street. By 
such a line of travel the natives of the 
vicinity doubtless made their way to the 
shores of New York bay. Beyond Grave- 
send the ancient path proceeded through 
New Utrecht to Nayack, and there afforded 
ready communication, by a short canoe 
trip across the Narrows, with the natives 
of Staten Island, and the Raritan and 
Navasink in eastern New Jersey. 

Indian Pond (106) is a picturesque little 
lake which is situated near Mechawanienck, 
now Kings highway, upon the boundary of 
Gravesend and New Utrecht (pi. xxvi). 
This interesting natural landmark retained 
until quite recently its pristine character. 
It was the source of a brook, extending 
south between Avenues Q and R, at about 
the line of West 8th street in South Ben- 
sonhurst. The native deed of 1645 to 
Lady Moody and her associates mentions 




INDIAN NOTES 



BOLTON — INDIAN FATHS 




THE INDIAN POND, IN THE INDIAN FIELD. ALONGSIDE MECHA- 

WANIENCK, THEANCIENT PATHWAY ATTHEBOUND- 

ARY BETWEEN GRAVESEND AND NEW UTRECHT 

(STATIQN 106. MAP VIII. C) 

Photograph by Adam Dove 



THE CANARSEE 


167 


a "certaine pond in an old Indian field 
on the north side of the plantation of the 
said Robert Pennoyer," and thus affords 
us a clue to the existence of a native station 
with its accompanying planting field. The 
situation was desirable, alongside the 
native path, wiihin a short walk of the 
shore of Gravesend bay. 

The line of the ancient pathway proceed- 
ing further westward crossed the area later 
occupied by the village of New Utrecht 
(107). Its successor, the King's highway, 
made two sharp bends at Twentieth and 
at Eighteenth avenues, perhaps due to vil- 
lage developments or to cultivated tracts. 
From the turn at 20th street there extended 
to Gravesend beach a lane known as De 
Bruyn's (Brown's) lane. This was probably 
an Indian trail, and seems to indicate the 
existence of a native station preceding the 
establishment of the Dutch village. It 
extends from 81st street to the old margin 
of the bay, beyond Cropsey avenue, and 
is near the line of Twentieth avenue. It 
was the dividing line between the planta- 
tions of Anthony Jansen and others in 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





168 


INDIAN PATHS 


- 


1643 and 1657. As such its probable exis- 
tence as a trail is indicated. It was utilized 
by the early settlers as a means of access 
to the salt hay meadows along the Benson- 
hurst shore. 

From New Utrecht the path proceeded 
on the line of 84th street to Fifteenth 
avenue, along the tract which, in 1652, 
Cornelis Van Werckhoven purchased of 
the natives of the locality. At that avenue, 
the Cortelyou lane was later constructed 
to the shore. Passing around the head of 
the marshy tract which is now included in 
Dyker Heights Park, the old highway 
entered the region of Nayack. 

The locality known as Nayack (68) is 
of particular interest as the refuge of the 
natives of Manhattan who made the sale 
of their home on the lower part of that 
island to Peter Minuit. The name denotes 
a point or angle of land, and as such may 
be appropriately applied to the Fort Hamil- 
ton tract, bounded probably by Dyker 
Heights Park on the south, and extending 
perhaps as far north as Yellow hook to 
meet the bounds of the home-lands of the 




INDIAN NOTES 



THE CANARSEE 


169 


Gouwanis chieftaincy. Through the heart 
of this district the old trail ran a crooked 
course, roughly approximating the line of 
78th and 79th streets. At Third avenue it 
probably later became the Van Brunt or 
Bennett lane, which extended to the shore- 
line at 78th street, but as to which there 
is no record of its having been a native trail. 
Throughout this favored region of broad 
uplands and attractive shore there is no 
recorded information on the existence of 
native settlements. There was a deed of 
November 22, 1652, by Seisen and Mat- 
tano to Cornells Van Werckhoven for New 
Utrecht land "stretching from behind Mr. 
Paulus' land, called Gouwanis, across the 
hills to Mechawanienck, lying on the south- 
east side of Amersfoort and thence past 
Gravesend to the sea following the marks 
on the trees." This conveyance included all 
Bay Ridge and New Utrecht to the Graves- 
end line. Seisen was the same chieftain 
of Marechkawick who in 1637 sold Black- 
wells island. Mattano was chief of Nayack 
at the date of this deed, having succeeded 
Meijeterma after 1649. 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





170 


INDIAN PATHS 




That the Nayack natives who were the 
original owners of lower Manhattan were 
related to the Marechkawick Indians, is 
made evident not only by their removal to 
this territory, but by the joint action of their 
chiefs in this sale, and by the appearance, 
nineteen years later, of the sachem, Magan- 
wetinnernin, as the representative "for 
the tribe of Marychkenwingh and for 
Nayack." 

From these evidently close relations it is 
assumable that the Manhattan natives 
were Canarsee, and that their superiors 
or rulers were the sachems of the Brooklyn 
and Flatlands communities. We may even 
trace in Meijeterma who led the Manhattans 
of Nayack prior to 1649, and in Seyseys 
who ruled the Canarsee in 1637, the prob- 
able leading participants in that momen- 
tous sale in 1622, of the site of the future 
Great Metropolis. 




INDIAN NOTES 



171 



VII— NATIVE PATHS IN THE 
BOROUGH OF QUEENS 

(Maps I, and VIII, B) 

THE Borough of Queens, which is a 
part of the one-time county of 
that name, was added to the 
Metropolis in 1898. It is a 
very spacious tract, embracing within 
its area the old townships of Newtown, 
Flushing, Jamaica, and part of Hemp- 
stead, and the modern industrial district 
of Long Island City. It is divided from 
Kings county by a boundary-line drawn 
between the heads of Mespaetches or New- 
town creek and the source of Spring creek, 
the Hohosboco of the natives. 

The borough includes the entire tract 
which was occupied by the Rockaway chief- 
taincy extending from East river to Jamaica 
bay. Part of the Matinecock territory 
is also embraced within the northeastern 
bounds of the borough, in the township of 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



172 


INDIAN PATHS 




Flushing, and the districts of College Point, 
Whitestone, Bayside, and Little Neck. 
On the south it includes the easterly half 
of Jamaica bay as far west as the Raunt, 
and Rockaway beach from Rockaway 
point to Far Rockaway. 

Within the large territory much remains 
to be done in the direction of exploration 
and investigation, by which the limited 
information regarding its occupancy by 
the Indians may be considerably extended. 

The Rockaway, who are considered by 
Armbruster to have been the Marech- 
kawick of Brooklyn , or their near relations, 
were centered beyond the bounds of the 
Greater City at Rechquakie or Near Rocka- 
way, their chief village having been situated 
at Rockville Center. 

At Hewlett, which is a mile or so beyond 
the Queens County boundary, there was 
another station (55), and we know of other 
settlements beyond that locality. 

In the interior few traces of native life 
have been recorded. A station at Jamaica, 
which is known -to have existed, may have 
been that of some subordinate clan. Some 




INDIAN NOTES 



BOROUGH OF QUEENS 



173 



traces of occupancy at Flushing attest 
the residence of the Matinecock. 

Within the Newtown district another 
subordinate chieftaincy, the Mispat, re- 
sided in the region around the extensive 
inlet of Newtown creek, known to the 
natives as Mespaetches. 

The name of the inlet , according to Tooker , 
bears some reference to a bad water place 
or swampy locality, which well describes 
the character of the borders of the creek 
and of its branches. The native names of 
three branches of Newtown creek have 
been preserved. Canapaukah, which seems 
to indicate a shut-in water place, was later 
known as Dutch kills. This inlet extended 
in to the heart of Long Island City, 
its source being near the approach to 
the Queensboro bridge at Rapelye and 
Freeman avenues. Armbruster considers 
the name to indicate a bears' water 
place, and thinks that this was indica- 
tion of Canarsee ownership. 

The southwest extension of the creek 
was known as Quandoequareous. Its tor- 
tuous course extends inland as far as Tohn- 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



174 


INDIAN PATHS 




son avenue in Bushwick, and it partly forms 
the boundary between the boroughs of 
Brooklyn and Queens. 

Maspeth creek, which extends in a north 
easterly direction between the Laurel hill 
and Linden hill sections as far as Maspeth, 
perpetuates the native name of the entire 
inlet, and was probably applied to the 
native station (65) as well. 

The position of that settlement is indi- 
cated by the discovery from time to time of 
native artifacts upon the Maspeth hills 
The situation also appears to have been 
desirable for native residence, as the creek 
provided fresh water at its source, and the 
elevation afforded a wide view over sur- 
rounding country. A village-site might 
have been looked for in the vicinity of 
Borden avenue and Willow avenue. 
Neighboring territory lying south and 
east of this station was desirably sloping 
and well-drained land upon which the 
natives doubtless had their cultivated 
clearings. 

Northwest of Mispat, over the promon 
tory now forming the growing Long Island 




INDIAN NOTES 



BOROUGH OF QUEENS 



175 



City and its environs to Corona, a great 
tract of forest land extended to Flushing 
bay. This was known to the natives as 
Wandowenock, which Armbruster defines 
as "the fine land between the long streams" 
of East river and Flushing bay. 

The only known station within this 
broad region is at Ravenswood Park (111), 
on the bank of the east channel of East 
river, where a shellheap indicates native 
residence, and some native objects were 
discovered by W. L. Calver. 

It is not possible to suggest any particular 
line of trail connecting this place with 
Mispat. The path, if such there was, 
wound its way through the timber, which 
in later years was all cut off, through the 
narrow neck of dry land between the heads 
of the Sunwick and Canapaukah creeks, 
near the present entrance to the approach 
of the Queensboro bridge. 

The name of the "creek, called Sunwick," 
means "a stone house," according to 
Tooker, and is another illustration of the 
Indian practice of applying to contiguous 
waters the designation of abutting territory. 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



176 


INDIAN PATHS 




The name is connected with the tract on 
the north side of the creek, known to the 
natives as Sint Sinck, "a stony place," 
which in 1664 was sold to the Colonists 
by Shawestcout and Erramorhas. 

It would seem natural for the neck of 
land which these creeks enclosed to afford 
shelter to the aborigines, especially as the 
waters between the Hunters Point shore 
and that Of Minnahanonck, or Blackwells 
island, must have afforded good fishing, 
and the shallows of Mespaetches should 
have been the nursery of countless oysters. 

Flushing bay would appear to have been 
a very favorable place for native occupancy. 
North beach on Fishs point, the extremity 
of the promontory, is opposite Rikers 
island, beyond which a moderate stretch 
of still water separated it from Quinnahung 
and Snakapins, native settlements in the 
south part of the Bronx. 

From Flushing bay there set in west- 
wardly a watercourse, known to the settlers 
as Ludovics or Wessels brook. This was 
named in a deed of 1666 as a "certain creek 




INDIAN NOTES 



BOROUGH OF QUEENS 



called Sackhickneyah where Wessels mill 
stood." 

The creek extended inland with deep 
windings to the Trains meadow, a large 
tract of marsh-land which is still in great 
part existing in its original condition, fill- 
ing the large basin of lowland now partly 
occupied by North Woodside, and extending 
as far north as the Flushing turnpike. 

On the east of this area the old Trains 
Meadow road made its crooked way between 
Maspeth and North Beach on Flushing 
bay. The name which was thus applied 
to the creek in the conveyance above men- 
tioned, was probably that of the sea-shore 
path which followed its course, as pointed 
out by Tooker, 32 corresponding as it does 
to the Delaware words shajahik, "sea- 
shore," and aney, "a path." 

Such a pathway, if extended through the 
Mispat village as it might have been, on 
the line of Trimble avenue, would have 
been an important means of access to the 
still waters of the Sound, from the regions 
around the bay of New York, avoiding 



177 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



178 



INDIAN PATHS 



travel by canoe through the treacherous 
currents of Hell Gate. 

The natural line of communication be- 
tween these places and the mainland north 
and west, was the Rockaway trail, which 
ran from the Brooklyn path along the base 
of the hilly ground known as the Green 
hills that form the central backbone of 
the island from Fort Hamilton to North 
Hempstead. This path followed the line 
of the old Bedford and Jamaica highway, 
which the present Atlantic avenue and 
Jamaica avenue succeed. 

The path was expanded into a King's 
highway in 1704, and for many years 
bore that name. It became known later 
as the Jamaica and Brooklyn plank road, 
and sometimes as the Old Ferry road. 
In the village of Bedford it crossed, at the 
Four Corners, the junction of the Clove 
road, which was an old lane that may still 
be traced in part in the line of Canarsie 
avenue from Montgomery street southward 
to its old junction with the Canarsie lane, 
now the south boundary of the Cemetery 
of the Holy Cross in Flatbush. 



INDIAN NOTES 



BOROUGH OF QUEENS 


179 


The Clove road might have constituted 
a short-cut from the Canarsie region to the 
old Newtown road, which joined the main 
roadway at Bedford corners, and of which 
mention has already been made. This 
line of travel, by following Flushing avenue 
beyond Broadway, led very directly to 
Maspeth, the nearest station in Queens 
county, and to the territory now covered 
by Long Island City. It met at Linden hill 
the old Fresh Pond road, once known as the 
Kills path. This winding way was a very 
probable connection between the Maspeth 
station and the Rockaway path, with 
which it united at Euclid avenue in East 
New York. 

The Rockaway path crossed the boundary 
of the Borough of Queens, as does its suc- 
cessor Jamaica avenue, at Elderts lane, 
and passed thence almost due east toward 
Jamaica (101), skirting the south side of 
the Green hills through the Woodhaven 
and Richmond Hill districts, and entering 
Jamaica at Fulton street, where it joined 
another known trail that led north to 
Flushing. 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





180 


INDIAN PATHS 




Evidently proceeding farther east, as 
Fulton avenue now runs through Woodhull 
and Hollis, to the present district called 
Queens, the trail divided there, one branch 
passing due east to Hempstead, the other 
in a northeasterly direction to Jericho. 
These routes were later known respectively 
as the South Country road or the South 
Post-road, and the Middle Post-road or 
Jericho road. It would seem probable 
that the Hewlett and the Near Rockaway 
stations would have been connected with 
Hempstead by some branch trail proceeding 
directly south from the Southern post-road 
at Hempstead, possibly along die Valley 
Stream road. 

The main path to those native settlements 
was doubtless by the route of the old high- 
way from Jamaica, which led direct to 
Rockaway neck, and was practically an 
extension of the Flushing road. This old 
road, which may well have been an ancient 
path, passed over the meadows south of 
Jamaica, crossing the creek known to the 
natives as Skupash, the source of which was 
at Beaver pond in the old town, and thence 




INDIAN NOTES 



BOROUGH OF QUEENS 


181 


proceeding over the broad meadow-land 
bordering Jamaica bay, to a crossing over 
Hooker creek, where later a toll-gate was 
placed, thus reaching Rockaway neck, 
from which point the long stretch of Rocka- 
way beach would have been accessible 
by a branch path, while the main road pro- 
ceeded east to Hewlett (55). 

In this district the Rockaway natives 
had several settlements, including a station 
on Hog island (54), and not far away an 
important fortified station situated on 
Hicks neck, both having access to salt- 
water on Hempstead bay. 

Direct communication was doubtless 
well established between the residents in 
these large settlements and those of their 
kinsfolk living near the waters of the Sound, 
by passing through Jamaica, and thence 
north on the line of the Flushing road, 
which within Flushing is now known as 
Jamaica avenue. 

The settlement at Jamaica seems to have 
been occupied by a clan of natives who are 
thought to have been subordinate to the 
Rockaway, perhaps survivors of a prior 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





182 


INDIAN PATHS 




tribe of occupants. Their village was 
near the Beaver pond which once existed 
at the intersection of the Rockaway road 
and South street. From the pond a ' ' beaver 
path" led to the lodges. The exact location 
of the latter has not been recorded, but 
it would seem likely to have been at the 
intersection of the important paths which 
met at Flushing avenue and Fulton street. 

In the town of Flushing (53) some traces 
of native occupancy have been recorded. 
There was a tract on the north side of Broad- 
way, cultivated in the eighteenth century 
as a horticultural establishment, which was 
known as the Linnaean gardens. Within 
this area skeletons were uncovered indi- 
cating its use as a burying- ground. Prob- 
ably it was a station, and its planting- 
grounds were extended over the same tract 
that afterward formed the garden. 

A mile to the east, on the Duryea farm, 
objects of native manufacture evidenced the 
presence of the Indians. The Flushing sta- 
tion appears to have been the headquarters at 
one time of the leading sachem of this part 
of Long Island, for in 1664 Tackapoosa. 




INDIAN NOTES 



BOROUGH OF QUEENS 


183 


son and survivor of the great Mechowodt. 
the Ancient One, was resident there. 

The Matinecock were at one time numer- 
ous, and their villages and contiguous 
cultivated fields were scattered all over the 
territory they occupied, but disease and 
warfare so reduced their number that their 
planting land became waste and their 
homes were abandoned. The line of 
Broadway was evidently a natural line of 
travel between their Flushing settlement 
and their stations on the North shore. 
Armbruster states that at the time of the 
arrival of the first white settlers an Indian 
trail existed where now Broadway runs. 

At Little Neck (122), within the boundary 
of the borough, the path passed a native 
station and burial-ground. In this vicinity 
abundant shellheaps and native objects 
indicate its favorable advantages for native 
residence. 

Beyond Little Neck the trail went for- 
ward to Manhasset, providing means of 
access from such stations as those at Dosoris, 
Port Washington, and others along the 
North shore of Long Island. 


- 


AND MONOGRAPHS 





184 


INDIAN PATHS 


• 


It seems probable that this North-shore 
trail would have been an extension of the 
Sackhickneyah, which at Corona was but 
about a mile away from Flushing. The 
two, however, were separated by the broad 
marshes extending on the west side of 
Flushing creek. Across part of this boggy 
tract a narrow neck of dry land extends 
nearly two-thirds of the distance, over which 
Broadway now makes its way, uniting 
Jackson avenue with Flushing avenue. 
A canoe ferry over the creek was doubtless 
a necessary supplement to travel by this 
route, an effort which would have been 
warranted by the distance it saved, and 
the avoidance of a long tramp down to 
Jamaica to join the Rockaway path. 

This shore-path route would also have 
provided a short-cut from the north shore 
of Long Island to the island of Manhattan, 
by a canoe trip across East river below 
Hell Gate. 

Such long trails and tedious detours to 
avoid watercourses and marshes must 
have appeared very aggravating at times 
to those natives living on the shores facing 




INDIAN NOTES 



BOROUGH OF QUEENS 



185 



each other across the waters of East river. 
Hell Gate offered an obstruction to free 
passage which led to the tradition among 
the natives of the region to the effect that 
at some remote period it had been possible 
for their predecessors to cross the dangerous 
rapid by stepping from one exposed rock 
to another. A folk-story of much the same 
imaginative character is related by Robert 
Bolton, regarding the Stepping Stones rocks 
off Pelham neck. That legend recorded the 
pursuit by the natives of "Manetto," 
the Evil Spirit, through Westchester county 
to the Sound shore, where, escaping to 
City island, he stepped across to a safe 
retreat on Long Island by the use of the 
Stepping Stones, leaving the imprint of 
one foot which may still be seen upon a 
bowlder near Eastchester. He is said to 
have landed from his leap over the Sound 
in Flushing bay, on great rocks which were 
splintered by the impact. Having thus 
comfortably rid the mainland of that 
undesirable alien, the story leaves Lhe bur- 
den on Long Island of proving whether his 
Satanic Majesty skipped back again, over 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



186 


INDIAN PATHS 




the gate of hell, to Manhattan, or still 
remains resident in the Borough of Brook- 
lyn, playing the devil with metropolitan 
politics. 




INDIAN NOTES 



187 




VIII— RICHMOND PATHS 

(Map I) 

HE island known to the Indians 
as Aquehonga-Monacknong, our 
present Staten Island, was a 
favored place for native residence. 
Though its limited area offered relatively 
restricted facilities for wild animal life, 
the range of rugged hills that extend 
from its northeast corner at St George, 
to the old county town of Richmond 
near its center, probably sheltered quan- 
tities of small game and birds that 
supplemented the fish and shell-fish which 
teemed in the shallow waters surround- 
ing the island and provided the natives 
with their readiest means of subsistence. 
The eastern and western shore-lines were 
deeply indented with marshy tracts, some 
extending far inland. The area available 
for cultivation was thus considerably re- 
duced by mountain, marsh, and sand-dunes, 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



188 


INDIAN PATHS 




so that all the important native settlements 
are found to have been established around 
the shores, and only in a few places were 
small stations located inland. 

The native ownership of the borough 
was divided, its residents being members 
of several chieftaincies, who were settled 
upon that part of the coast contiguous to 
their mainland relatives, those on the north 
being the Hackensack and possibly the 
Tappan, those on the west and at the 
southern extremity the Raritan, and on 
the east and possibly in some inland posi- 
tions, the natives of Nayack, those one- 
time residents of Manhattan who removed 
to Fort Hamilton. As these were all of 
Unami-Delaware affinity, they appear to 
have lived in amicable relations and to 
have had a well-recognized right and 
title to their share in the ownership of 
the little island. 

Favored by nature as it was, and situ- 
ated in so commanding a position, the island 
unfortunately attracted the cupidity of 
the white man, and his usual process of 
expropriation of its unhappy tenantry 




INDIAN NOTES 



RICHMOND PATHS 


189 


took place, marked with injustice and treach- 
ery that resulted in a bloody tragedy of 
fifty years, culminating in the complete 
dismissal of the remnant of its native 
population in 1670. Perhaps the animosity 
thus created and continued, and at any 
rate the contempt of the early settlers for 
all native subjects, led to the abandonment 
of the Indian names of their numerous sta- 
tions, since none of them have been pre- 
served, and their location has been decided 
only by the persistent efforts of interested 
archeologists. Similar neglect befell the 
native paths or trails that must have 
connected these friendly settlements, and 
we are left to conjecture their courses by 
consideration of the location of the native 
stations and their physical surroundings. 

But the topography of the island is so 
pronounced and varied in character as 
to lend considerable aid in indicating the 
probable routes of the necessary paths by 
which these natives communicated with 
one another, and, as is found to have been 
the case elsewhere, these are frequently 
those natural lines of grade and avoidance 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





190 


INDIAN PATHS 


• 


of bogs and waterways which the old roads 
of the successors of the primeval pro- 
prietors are found to follow. Thus the 
mountainous range from St George to Rich- 
mond, and the extensive marshes of the 
Fresh kills extending therefrom to the 
Arthur kill, divide the island longitudinally 
and reduce the opportunity for convenient 
access from west to east to one or two 
passes which afforded reasonable grades, 
such as the Clove road. A trail over that 
pass would have connected the north and 
northwestern sections, occupied by the 
Hackensack, with the easterly and southern 
parts of the island, the latter being con- 
veniently reached by a line of trail approxi- 
mating the Richmond road and Amboy 
road, which traverse the base of the hills 
and avoid the marshes and waterways be- 
tween Arrochar and Tottenville. 

On the west side of the range of hills the 
old Richmond turnpike passes through 
native sites from New Brighton and Silver 
Lake to Linoleumville, and on the north 
shore several important settlements were 
doubtless connected by some path that 




INDIAN NOTES 



RICHMOND PATHS 


191 


paralleled the Kill van Kull between West 
New Brighton and Howlands hook. This 
trail would probably have followed the 
shore-line as closely as the present shore- 
road, as far as Mariners Harbor, where it 
would have terminated at the Bowmans 
Brook site, with a branch path to the south, 
extending past Arlington station, to Old 
Place and Bloomfield. 

The native settlements on Staten Island 
were both ancient and extensive. They 
are described by Skinner, 33 who explored 
the majority of the sites, and to whom we 
are indebted for most of our available 
information. One of several stations at 
West New Brighton was situated on the 
shore at Peltons cove, or Upper cove 
(72), on the line of the present Shore road. 
A village of extensive character, and one 
which was asserted to have been the scene of 
important gatherings and ceremonies in 
ancient times, was situated at Cedar and 
Dongan streets, West New Brighton, and 
burials within its area were found on the 
site of the parish house of the Church of 
the Ascension. Other camp-sites were 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





192 


INDIAN PATHS 




situated at the Harbor Hill golf-links 
(86), above Castleton avenue at Silver 
lake (78) , on Harbor hill near Harbor 
brook and Lafayette avenue, and some 
scattered relics along the Shore road near 
St George. Farther west along the shore, 
at Mariners Harbor, or Arlington, a station 
(74) existed on a sandy knoll on South ave- 
nue, opposite the railroad station. 

A larger and more ancient village and 
burial place (73) was found at Bowmans 
brook (or Newtons creek), under the site 
of the Milliken Brothers' steel works, 
beyond which, at Western avenue and the 
Shore road, a more recent site was found. 

At Old Place (75) in the same district, 
on a sandy promontory known as Tunissens 
neck, a large village of ancient character 
existed. 

Farther south at Watchogue, now Bloom- 
field (76), a quantity of relics indicate oc- 
cupancy of a site which did not, however, 
present the characteristics of a settled 
village. At the junction of Union avenue 
and the Watchogue road (87) there were 
burials and probably a village-site, and 




INDIAN NOTES 




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RICHMOND PATHS 


193 


scattered relics have been found on the 
sand-dunes between Chelsea and Travisville. 

On both sides of Long Neck, or Lino- 
leumville (77, A), scattered relics have 
been found indicating its use as a camp, 
probably during the summer season. 

Farther inland, at New Springville 
(89), there were indications of a station 
and burials. 

It would seem probable that a trail 
may have connected these fishing stations 
with a large camp-site (90) not far from 
Richmond, at the Ketchum mill-pond, 
on Simonsons brook, and that an extension 
may have traversed the old Mill road to 
Richmond, and thence connected with the 
Amboy road, forming a short-cut across 
the center of the island. This, however, 
can be only conjectured. 

The stations in the southwestern part of 
the island begin at Green Ridge (91), where, 
on a space between Journeay avenue and 
Annadale road, relics of ancient character 
have been found. Far out in the marsh- 
lands near the outlet of the Fresh kills, 
the tortuous channels form an island (79) 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





194 


1 
INDIAN PATHS 




known as Lakes island. This afforded 
numerous relics, even as far back as 1843, 
when Thoreau visited the place and picked 
arrowheads from the soil. 

Scattered settlements appear to have 
existed in the southwestern portion of the 
island around Woodrow (82), where, along 
the line of Sandy brook (81), on the Wort 
farm, and over the fields to Rossville (80) 
and Kreischerville, signs of native occu- 
pancy and cultivation are found. The 
locality was favorable for such purposes, 
and it may well have been so utilized by the 
overflow population of the great settlement 
on Ward point (83) beyond Tottenville. 
This place, sometimes described as Burial 
ridge, was evidently of considerable impor- 
tance and large extent. Recent explora- 
tions by the Museum of the American 
Indian, Heye Foundation, conducted by 
M. R. Harrington, are increasing the store 
of information as to its extent and char- 
acter (see pi. xxvn, xxviii). 

Situated on the "high sandy banks" 
that gave its name to Aquehonga, with the 
great oyster-beds of Raritan bay extending 




INDIAN NOTES 



RICHMOND PATHS 


195 


around it, and the tidal waters that surge 
round the point swarming with fish, the 
station was admirably suited to native life; 
while across the river, by a short ferriage, 
the great Minisink path came down through 
Perth Amboy, on which the traders of the 
Lenni Lenape made their way to the sea- 
coast with the products of their mountain 
homes. 

Along the easterly shore from Ward 
point to Arrochar, small deposits indicate 
native life at several favorable situations. 
At Princes bay (92) there are cultivable 
grounds, a fine water-supply, high banks 
and good fishing facilities, and along the 
banks several deposits have been noted 
that determine the presence of the red 
man. At Seguine point (93) there was a 
fishing camp, a site south of the Woods of 
Arden (94) at the mouth of the Great 
Kills, and another at Oakwood (95). At 
the head of that inlet, in the salt meadow, 
traces were found by Alanson Skinner, 
indicating the use of the place as a 'clam 
drying" ground. Nothing more has been 
traced between that locality and Arrochar 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





196 



INDIAN PATHS 



(96) , at which place, near the railroad station 
on Richmond avenue, there is an ancient 
site, probably one of the earliest on the 
island. At Stapleton (97) there was a 
station. Such sites on this side of the 
island could have been reached only by 
branch paths extending from some inland 
route, such as the Richmond and Amboy 
roads. These are indicated in Map I on the 
lines of old roadways which suggest the 
most natural routes. 



INDIAN NOTES 




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IX— PATHS IN NEARBY NEW JERSEY 
(Maps I; VIII, A; X) 

A STUDY of the system of Indian 
paths in the Metropolis would 
be incomplete without considera- 
tion of those traversing the con- 
tiguous territory on the west side of the 
waters of the bay and of the great estuary 
of the Hudson. 

Staten Island, which is substantially 
a part of that territory, has already ^ been 
considered, and is found to have had an 
extensive occupancy, composed of natives 
owing allegiance to several chieftaincies. 

The narrow waterway that divided the 
island from the mainland on the west and 
north formed no tribal boundary. We 
find that the natives of the island held 
title on the west to a large part of the area 
of the towns of Woodbridge, Linden, and 
Elizabeth, and that those on the north were 
in close communication with their fellow 



197 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



198 



INDIAN PATHS 



tribesmen of the Hackensack who were 
resident on Bergen neck. That promontory, 
bearing a singular topographical resemblance 
to Manhattan, evidently had superior 
attractions as a place from which the pur- 
suit of oystering and fishing could be car- 
ried on. A considerable settlement existed 
at Constable point (71), and there was a 
fishing station on the opposite side of the 
point, near the Central Railroad tracks 
on the shore of Newark bay. 

Constable point was practically an 
island separated from Bayonne by a wide 
tract of marsh with watercourses extending 
from Centerville to the Kill van Kull. 

At Gamoenepa (118), the modernized 
form of which name is Communipaw, a 
Hackensack station was continued up to 
Colonial times, situated upon the point 
of dry land which there extended into the 
waters of the Upper bay, directly opposite 
the extremity of Manhattan Island. 

Another station, whose existence is 
marked in our city's history by the black 
record of the indiscriminate slaughter of 
its occupants in 1643, was Aressick, or 



INDIAN NOTES 







NEW JERSEY 


1 
199 


Paulus hook (114), now included in the 
modern Jersey City, probably situated at 
a point about a block south and west of 
Exchange place. It was thus directly 
across the river from Werpoes, and is likely 
to have had considerable communication, 
by canoe, with Manhattan. 

It had nearby a neighboring community 
in the native village of Harsimus (115), 
situated in the cove about the present 
Henderson street and 5th street, in modern 
Hoboken. 

At Castle point, the trading station of 
Hobokan Hackingh (116), was established 
a place of some importance, which by its 
position on the highest southerly ground 
along the river-front commanded the 
passage of trade to and from the Island of 
Manhattan. 

By some route we may feel assured that 
these natives of Bergen neck, and others 
occupying North Bergen and the Palisade 
region, found their way around the Hacken- 
sack meadows to the trails from those 
mountain regions on which the traders 
from the interior tribes made their way 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





200 


INDIAN PATHS 




with the products of the chase to the mark- 
eting place at Sapohanikan. 

Direct progress toward the west, from 
the stations on the bank of Hudson river 
along Bergen neck was barred to native 
travel by the extensive swamp-land that 
extended around the head of Newark bay 
for about sixteen miles inland to Hacken- 
sack. 

It was, perhaps, a common custom 
to transport goods and travelers by canoe 
across the Hackensack, which could have 
been best accomplished at Kearney, but 
in the absence of the means of water ferriage 
the traveler was compelled to journey to 
some point farther inland, where a crossing 
by wading could be effected. The Hacken- 
sack was approachable at Little Ferry, 
where dry ground extends on both sides 
to the margin of the river, but as Over 
peck creek there unites with it, the waters 
are broad, and only at low water could 
a crossing have been practicable. 

The probability is that the line of travel 
took a longer route around high and dry 
ground near Englewood, crossing the nar- 




INDIAN NOTES 



NEW JERSEY 


201 


rowed stream at New Bridge, thence advanc- 
ing westward toward the great bend of Pas- 
saic river which, emerging from the moun- 
tain at Great Falls, loops around the city of 
Paterson and thence descends in a southerly 
course parallel with Hackensack river. 

At modern Passaic the river takes a 
horseshoe turn around the site of the 
native station of Acquacanonck (70), the 
headquarters of the chieftaincy of that 
name. A short distance north of its junction 
with Saddle river there is a shallow place 
used as a ford in Colonial times, which was 
probably a crossing used by the Indians 
on their way to the homes of the Acquac 
anonck along the Passaic valley ^ and 
thence through the Short hills to the west. 

Those who sought the region inhabited 
by the warlike Minsi, who were settled in 
the Preakness valley and Pompton plain, 
probably took a path around the bend of 
the Passaic river, or cut across country 
from New Bridge on the Hackensack past 
Maywood, over Saddle river near Areola, 
and passing around the Passaic at Hawthorne 
found themselves on the line of the Pomp- 


• 


AND MONOGRAPHS 





202 



INDIAN PATHS 



ton road, at the entrance of the pass 
through the Watchung mountains. 

From Pompton an old roadway, possibly 
the successor of a trail, followed the course 
of the Ramapo river along the base of the 
southern Ramapo mountains, by which 
route the traveler would have reached 
Suffern most conveniently. There two 
known Indian trails diverged, one leading 
into the narrow valley of the Ramapo river 
through the heart of the mountains to the 
Highlands, and the other turning eastwardly 
along Mahwah creek directly to Haverstraw. 

Through these mountain trails there 
doubtless flowed a great part of the traffic 
that brought the pelts and game of the 
wild forests to Manhattan, and carried 
back again over their steep and tortuous 
courses the coveted beads of wampum for 
which they had been exchanged. • 

The Minisink path was an important 
native highway which connected the bay 
of New York and the sea coast with the 
mountain regions of upper New Jersey in 
which the Lenni Lenape made their home. 
This great pathway was so well known a 



INDIAN NOTES 



BOLTON-INDIAN PATHS IN THE GREAT METROPOLIS 



h'l-TiiMi T — ~ — ~ 



i---r— *-■- r---T- 




Original map of a portion of eastern Ne\ 
tiguous to Staten Island, showing a part of th 
1750 as an exhibit in the Elizabeth boundary dj 



MAP XI 




embracing the native sales of territory con- 
of the Minisink path. Drawn probably about 
Courtesy of the New York Historical Society.) 



NEW JERSEY 


203 


feature of east New Jersey that it appears 
prominently in ancient maps, such as that 
reproduced as Map X, on which its entire 
course is marked from Navasink to Minisink. 

This path commenced at Portland point 
on Navasink river, probably at some village- 
site favorably situated for deep-sea fishing 
and oystering, and proceeded west, to the 
north of Middletown, passing around the 
south side of Pidgeon Hill, north of Mount 
Pleasant, to Middletown Point, through 
which village it passed and crossed Mat- 
tewan creek, and curved northward to 
South Amboy, where it reached a wading 
place on Raritan river west of Perth Amboy. 

Another interesting map, which is included 
in a collection of surveys of the Colonial 
period in possession of the New York 
Historical Society, is reproduced, by the 
courtesy of that Society, as Map XI. This 
map shows in some detail the topography 
of part of the territory through which the 
path passed. It relates to a dispute be- 
tween the towns of Newark and Elizabeth 
as to their respective boundaries, and is 
evidently the work of some surveyor 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





204 



INDIAN PATHS 



acquainted with the historical side of the 
subject, as it records not only the bounda- 
ries but the dates and even some of the 
native names of the tracts purchased from 
the natives dwelling in the territory between 
Raritan and Passaic rivers, and from Staten 
Island to the Cushetonk hiF.s. 

One of the most important boundary 
lines was the Minisink path, which trav- 
erses the region between the two rivers 
above mentioned, and was used as the 
western boundary of the earliest native 
conveyance, comprising that tract contig- 
uous to Staten Island from Amboy to 
Elizabeth, which it states was "claimed by 
the Indians of Staten Island" and was 
sold by them in 1664. 

The point of its crossing of Raritan river 
was about two miles west of Perth Amboy, 
where a fordable depth was doubtless 
found at a place which is marked on the 
old survey as Kents neck, the native name 
of which was Matockshegan, indicating 
by its use of the words matta, "bad," 
tuck, "a creek," and perhaps oushachen, 
"slippery," the awkward and difficult 



INDIAN NOTES 



NEW JERSEY 


205 


nature of the wading place. The path 
appears to have taken a fairly straight 
course nearly due north from this point, 
on a line which is not followed by any 
main road of later periods. Keeping to 
the west side of Rahway river, it reached 
Springfield; thence it passed through the 
Short hills to Northfield and Livingston, 
where it crossed the Passaic into Morris 
county. Its course may be traced beyond 
that point by old roadways through Sussex 
county to the island of Minisink in Dela- 
ware river, which is situated halfway be- 
between Hainesville and Milford. 34 This 
is stated by Whitehead to have been the 
only native path or trail in upper New 
Jersey of which there is any definite record. 
Its importance is evident on examination 
of its course around the waters of the 
metropolitan area, as it afforded the desired 
access to the ocean without the necessity of 
passing over the mountains of the Ramapo, 
avoiding also the extensive swamps of 
the Passaic and the Hackensack. It formed 
so direct a means of contact with the natives 
of the Delaware tribe that it can hardly 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





206 


INDIAN PATHS 




have existed without a number of branch 
trails, connecting through the hills with 
the homes of natives resident in the East 
Jersey district, and probably extending, 
by some such routes as those previously 
described, to the trading-place on the 
Hudson, thus establishing contact between 
the Delawares and their blood relatives 
on the Island of Manhattan, and the ad- 
joining territories on the mainland and 
Long Island. 




INDIAN NOTES 



207 



NOTES 

1. Valentine's Manual for 1865, pp. 572 and 652. 

2. On the other hand, Mr M. R. Harrington, 

in a personal communication to the 
author, says of the name Werpoes or 
Worpus: "There seems to be nothing in 
recorded Delaware to help us here, but the 
Natick word waapu, 'raised up,' with the 
diminutive -5 added, would seem to indi- 
cate 'a slight elevation.' This would ac- 
cord with the Kolch hill, the most con- 
spicuous elevation of the neighborhood." 

3. Doc. Hist.. State of N. Y., vol. ii, p. 1039. 

4. Information by Mr M. R. Harrington, who 

says: "Taking into account the inter- 
changeability of the letters / and r, the 
Delaware roots of these names, both of 
which are used, might belexau-taney-k, 'at 
the sandy town,' or lexau-tuk, 'sandy 
river.' " 

5. Minetta or Manetta. This brook was 

not sufficiently distinctive to deserve 
a title derived from the Manitto, the 
Great Spirit, nor could it have had any 
connection with meruit ey, an island. It 
is most probable that it is a corrup- 
tion of the prosaic menantachk indicating 
the "wooded swamp" through which 
the upper part of the brook meandered. 
— M. R. Harrington. 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



208 



INDIAN PATHS 



'rising ground." — 
Harrington. 

1865, pp. 608 and 



6. Aspetong; Ashpetong. An elevation, 

scarcely sufficiently conspicuous to de- 
serve the name of a hill, seems to be in- 
dicated by the Delaware aspi, "lifted up," 
and the locative-owg, "an elevated place, 
or as we should say, 
Information by M. R 

7. Valentine's Manual for 

638. 

8. Shepmoes. Though we might derive this 

from the Delaware word sipo, a river, plus 
the suffix -es, meaning little, there is a 
closer resemblance to the recorded Natick 
sepomoese, and it would seem more prob- 
able that it is a title descriptive of a local 
feature, "the little brook."— M. R. Har- 
rington. 

9. Valentine's Manual for 1864, p. 847. 

10. Rechawanes, Rechewanis. Far from 

indicating a great space of sand, as has 
been suggested by Riker and others, the 
precise derivation appears to be the Del- 
aware lexau-hannes-s or "sand-stream- 
little," descriptive of the small creek that 
flowed between its sandy banks. Rech- 
ewas point thus appears as hxau-es or 
"little sand point."— M. R. Harrington. 

11. Conykeekst. The Delaware kwene-aki- 

es-k indicates the character of the tract 
as a long-place-little-at, or long narrow 
tract, perhaps wooded, bounded west by 
the marsh lands and east by the surging 
waters of the East river. — M. R. Har- 
rington. 

12. Riker, James, History of Harlem, p. 282. 



INDIAN NOTES 



NOTES 



13. Skinner, Alanson, Archeological Investiga- 

tions on Manhattan Island, Indian Notes 
and Monographs, vol. ii, no. 6, 1920. 

14. Mosholu. A simple explanation of the 

name is offered by the Delaware Mosxo- 
X&eu, meaning clear (not turbid), which 
may well have been the character of the 
bright waters of the brook, bounding 
over the cascade in front of the village- 
site. — M. R. Harrington. 

15. Nipxichsen. A more satisfactory defini- 

tion of the name applied to this hilltop 
station than has been heretofore sug- 
gested, is found in the Delaware mbi- 
nishkeu, or as it appears in its Natick 
form, nip-nishkeneunque, signifying 
muddy or dirty water. This could be 
• very reasonably applied to the rain-water 
pond which in certain seasons filled the 
hollow space back of the site of the old 
Tippett dwelling. — M. R. Harrington. 

16. Bolton, R. P., A Pioneer Settler's Home, 

Quarterly Bulletin, N. Y. Historical 
Society, vol. v, no. 1, New York, 1921. 

17. Raxachqua. The Ranach qua tract, which 

formed the apex of the great peninsula 
covered by Westchester county, was 
significantly described by its native name, 
evidently derived from the Delaware 
wunaXkwaloye, "the extreme end." — 
M. R. Harrington. 

18. Jenkins, Stephen, Story of the Bronx, 

p. 214. 



209 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



210 



INDIAN PATHS 



19. Skinner, Exploration of Aboriginal Sites 

at Throgs Neck and Clasons Point, New 
York City, Contributions from the Museum 
of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, 
vol. v. no. 4, pt. 1, New York, 1919. 

20. Bolton, Robert, History of Weschester 

County, 3d ed., ii, p. 578. 

21. Skinner, op. cit., vol. v, no. 4, pt. 2, New 

York, 1919. 

22. Bolton, Robert, History of Weschester 

County, 3d ed., vol. i, p. 686. 

23. Furman, Gabriel, Antiquities of Long 

Island. 

24. RlNNEGACONCK, RlNNEGOCONCK. The 

Delaware lenniga-xunk, or Bark-house 
hill, is a satisfactory and distinctive 
description, according with the native 
settlement on the hill, the traces of which 
were above described. — M. R. Harrington. 

25. The patent of 1646 to Van Tienhoven 

describes Breukelen as "formerly called 
Marechkawick." The village planting- 
grounds were in the vicinity, as described 
in the grant of land to Frederick Lubber- 
sen in 1640. 

26. Flint, M. B., Early Life on Long Island. 

27. Stiles, H. R., History of Brooklyn, vol. i, 

p. 52. 

28. Stiles, ibid., vol. i, p. 49. 

29. New York Colonial Documents, xiv, 39 

30. Van Wvck, Frederick, Historical Guide of 

the City History Club, 1913. 

31. Munsell, J., History of Kings County. 

32. Tooker, W. W., Indian Place Names on 

Long Island. 



INDIAN NOTES 



NOTES 



33' Skinner, A nthropological Papers of the A meri- 
can Museum of Natural History, 1909. 

34. Heye, G. G., and Pepper, G. H., Explora- 
tion of a Munsee Cemetery near Mon- 
tague, New Jersey, Contributions from the 
Museum of the American Indian, Heye 
Foundation, vol. ii, no. 1, New York. 
1915. 




AND MONOGRAPHS 




212 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Armbruster, Eugene L., History of Long 
Island, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, 1914 
(The Eagle Library, No. 182.) 

•, The Ferry Road on Long Island, New 



York, 1919. 

Beauchamp, Wm. M., Aboriginal Occupation 
of New York, Bulletin 32, N. Y. State Museum, 
Albany, 1900. 

-, Indian Names of New York, Fayette- 



ville, N. Y., 1893 
Bolton, R. P.-, The Indians of Washington 
Heights, Anthropological Papers, American 
Museum of Natural History, vol. in, New 
York, 1909. 

, New York City in Indian Possession, 



Indian Notes and Monographs, Museum of 

the American Indian, Heye Foundation, vol. n, 

no. 7, New York, 1920. 
Bolton, Rev. Robert, The History of the County 

of Westchester, 1st ed,. New York, 1848, and 

3d ed., New York, 1905. 
Boyd, S. G., Indian Local Names with their 

Interpretations, York, Pa., 1885. 
City History Club, Historical Guide to the 

City of New York, 1913. 
Cook, Harry T., The Borough of the Bronx, 

1639-1913, New York, 1913. 
Denton, Daniel, Description of New York, 

1670, New York, 1845 (reprint). 
Flint, Martha B., Early Life on Long Island, 

New York, 1896. 
Ftjrman, Gabriel, Antiquities of Long Island. 

New York, 1875. 



INDIAN NOTES 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



213 



Hall, Edward Hagaman, A Brief History of 
City Hall Park, American Scenic and Historic 
Preservation Society, 15th Annual Report, p. 
383, Albany, 1910. 

Handbook of American Indians, edited by 
Frederick W. Hodge, Bulletin 30, Bureau of 
American Ethnology, Washington, 1907-1910. 

Hanna, Charles A., The Wilderness Trail, 
New York, 1911. (Two vols., with 80 maps.) 

Heye, G. G., and Pepper, G. H., Exploration 
of a Munsee Cemetery near Montague, New 
Terse} 7 ', Contributions from the Museum of the 
American Indian, Heye Foundation, vol. ii, 
no. 1, New York, 1915. 

Higgins, Charles M., Brooklyn and Gowanus 
in History, Kings County Historical Society 
Magazine, August, 1916. 

(The) Indians of Greater New York, Anthro- 
pological Papers, American Museum of Natural 
History, vol. in, New York, 1909. 

Innes, J. H., Ancient Newtown, The Newtown 
Register, Elmhurst, L. I., 1898-1899. 

, New Amsterdam and its People, New 

York, 1902. 

Jameson, J. F., Narratives of New Netherland, 
New York, 1909. 

Janviee, Thos. A., In Old New York, New 
York, 1900. 

Jenkins, Stephen, The Old Boston Post Road, 
New York, 1914. 

The Greatest Street in the World, 



New York, 1911. 

-, The Story of the Bronx, New York, 



1912. 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



214 



INDIAN PATHS 



Munsell, J., History of Queens County, New 

York, 1882. 
Nelson, Wm., The Indians of New Jersey, 

Paterson, N. J., 1894. 
New York. Colonial Documents of the State 

of New York, vol. xrv, Albany, 1883. 
New York City, Department of Finance, 

Colonial Highways of Greater New York, 

New York, 1907-1908. 
Onderdonk, Henry, Queens County in Olden 

Times, Jamaica, 1865. 
— , Revolutionary Incidents of Queens 

County, New York, 1846. 
Prime, Nathaniel S., History of Long Island, 

New York, 1845. 
Riker, James, Annals of Newtown, New York, 

1852. 
, Harlem, its Origin and Annals, New 

York, 1881. 
Ruttenber, E. M., History of the Indian 

Tribes of the Hudson River, Albany, 1872. 
, Indian Geographical Names, Proceedings 

of New York State Historical Association, 

1906. 
Schrabisch, Max, Indian Rock-shelters in 

Northern New Jersey and Southern New 

York, Anthropological Papers, American Mu- 
seum of Natural History, vol. in, New York, 

1909. 

Indian Habitations in Sussex County, 



New Jersey, Geological Survey of New Jersey, 
Bulletin 13, Union Hill, N. J., 1915. 
Skinner, Alanson, Exploration of Aboriginal 
Sites at Throgs Neck and Clasons Point, New 
York City, Contributions from the Museum of 



INDIAN NOTES 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



215 



the American Indian, Heye Foundation, vol. v, 
no. 4, New York, 1919. 

Skinner, Alanson, Archeological investigations 
on Manhattan Island, New York City, In- 
dian Notes and Monographs, Museum of the 
American Indian, Heye Foundation, vol. n, 
no. 6, New York, 1920. 

Sluyter and Dankers, Journal, 1679. In 
Transactions of the Long Island Historical 
Society, vol. i, Brooklyn, 1867. 

Strong, Thos. M., History of Flatbush, New 
York, 1842. 

Thompson, B. F., History of Long Island, 2d 
ed., New York, 1843. 

Tooker, William Wallace, The Indian Place 
Names on Long Island, etc.. New York, 1911. 
Amerindian Names in Westchester 



County. In Shonnard, History of West- 
chester County, New York, 1900. 

Trumbull, James H., Indian Names in Connec- 
ticut, Hartford, 1881. 

Ulmann, Albert, A Landmark History of New 
York, New York, 1901. 

Valentine, David T., History of the City of 
New York, New York, 1853. 

Van der Donck, Beschryving van Nieuw 
Nederland, Coll. N. Y. Hist. Soc, 2d series, 
vol. i, 1841. 

Waller, H. D., History of the Town of Flush- 
ing, Flushing, 1899. 

Whitehead, William A., East Jersey under the 
Proprietary Governments, Newark, 1875. 

Wilson, R. R., Historical Long Island, New 
York, 1902. 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



216 



INDIAN PATHS 



Winfield, C. H., History of the Land Titles of 
Hudson County, New York, New York, 1872. 
■, History of Hudson County, New York, 



New York, 1874. 
Wood, Silas, Sketch of the First Settlement of 
Long Island, Brooklyn, 1865. 



INDIAN NOTES 



MAPS CONSULTED 

Atlas of 23d ward, City of New York. 

Atlas of 24th ward, City of New York. 2d 
edition. Survey by Robinson and Pidgeon, 
published by E. Robinson, N. Y;, 1887. 

Bergen Point, N. J. An original map of the 
point up to "Weehawk," made by an un- 
known person in 1767, having upon it a 
note of distances made by Robert Erskine 
in 1779. Shows old dwellings, farms, and 
roadways. In possession of the New York 
Historical Society. 

Brooklyn, Borough of. Rand & McNally, 
Chicago, 1903. 

Brooklyn, The City of. Old prints, in annual 
publication, 1856 to 1864. In possession of 
the American Geographical Society. 

Brooklyn, The City of. Watson, 1879. 

Brooklyn, The City of. M. D'ripps, 1853, 1871. 

Brooklyn, The City of. Alexander Martin, 
1839. 

Elizabeth, N. J. An original map, apparently 
drawn about 1750, in possession of the New 
York Historical Society, showing the original 
purchases of lands from the Indian proprie- 
tors, and land in controversy at that time. 
(See our Map XI.) Also another survey of the 
same district, without the purchased lands. 

Geological Survey. United States. Maps 



217 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



218 



INDIAN PATHS 



covering the area of the greater city and of 

eastern New Jersey. 
Hudson River. Vingboom, 1639. In the Li- 
brary of Congress. 
Hudson River, The, between New York and 

Albany. Goodrich, 1824. 
Hudson River, Topographical map of the. 

Lloyd, 1864. 
Hudson River Valley, The. Atlas. Watson, 

1891. 
Indian Trails. Map in Charles A. Hanna's 

The Wilderness Trail, New York, 1911. 
Manhattan and Brooklyn, The Ratzer survey of. 

1766. Valentine's Manual for 1854. 
Manhattan farm properties. Valentine's 

Manual for 1852. 
Manhattan Island, Map of the Commissioners 

of. 1807. Valentine's Manual for 1853, 

p. 260. 
Manhattan Island, 1664. The Nicolls map. 
Monmouth, N. J., An orig nal survey of part of 

Monmouth county, 18th century, showing old 

roadways. In possession of the New York 

Historical Society. 
Mount Vernon, N. Y., and environs. Survey 

by William Bracher. Goldthwaite, 1890. 
New Jersey, by Robert Hornor. 
New Jersey, The Province of, by William 

Faden. London, 1778. 
New Jersey, East. An original map "''by a 

Society of Gentlemen in America," covering 

the counties of Hunterdon, Sussex, Bergen, 

Essex, and part of Morris, etc., from actual 

survey. In possession of the New York 

Historical Society. 



INDIAN NOTES 



MAPS CONSULTED 



219 



New Jersey, East. In Tilden's Map of New 

York, 1863. 
New Jersey, State of, by J. Low. New York, 

1796. 
New York and its Vicinity. Surveys by H. F. 

Walling. Published by S. D. Tilden, N. Y., 

1863. 
New York City. Maps published in the Man- 
ual of the Common Council of the City of 

New York, by D. T. Valentine. Indexed in 

the volume for 1857, p. 565. 
New York City in 1742-1744, by D. G., drawn 

in 1813. Valentine's Manual for 1852. 
New York, Southern, including Long Island. 

William Damerum, 1815. 
Westchester county. Beer, 1872. 
Westchester county, Atlas of, by Jos. R. Bien. 

Published by Julius Bien, New York, 1893. 
Westchester county. Walling, 1863. 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



220 



INDEX OF STATIONS ON THE MAPS 

Note: The numbers applied to the stations 
are those adopted in "New York City in 
Indian Possession" up to No. 27 and from 
I s * os. 50-58, 65-83, 86-97, new numbers 
being applied to stations not described in 
that work from 98 onward. See Indian 
Notes and Mono graphs, vol. n, no. 7, 1920. 

1. Kapsee (Map VIII, A). The extremity 

of the island of Manhattan; probably 
applied also to the rocks in the tideway. 
("The Indian name for the extreme 
point of the upland was Kap-se" — Ben- 
son.) (See Valentine's Manual, 1852, 
p. 462.) The Dutch name for the point 
extending south of Pearl street was 
Schreyers Hoek. 

2. Werpoes (Maps II; III; VIII, A). A 

native village-site at the Kalch Hoek, a 
hill which overlooked the Kolch or 
Collect ponds. The village was prob- 
ably situated on the line of Elm 
street, between Duane and Worth 
streets, the center being cut by the line 
of Pearl street, which, when graded, 
disclosed masses of shells. See 15th 
Annual Report American Scenic and 
Historic Preservation Society. 

3. RECHTAUCKorRECHTANCK (Maps II; VIII, 

A). A village-site on Corlears hook, on 
Manhattan island. Natives who had 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX TO STATIONS 



taken refuge there were massacred by 
Dutch soldiery at the order of Governor 
William Kieft, 1643. The most natural 
position for such a station was near a 
fresh-water pond and brook at the present 
Jefferson, Henry, Clinton, and Madison 
streets, facing south on an open beach 
on East river. 

4. Sapohanikan (Maps II; VIII, A). A 

station, but probably no more than a 
landing and trading place, utilized as 
the nearest convenient point of access 
to Hoboken, when peltries and goods 
were brought by the Hackensack for 
barter. It was situated on the shore of 
the slight indentation of the river-front 
between Bethune and Horatio streets, 
in what is now "Greenwich Village." 

5. Rechewanis (Map IV). Rechewas point, 

Montagnes point, "Little Sand Stream." 
The tract of marsh and upland extend- 
ing south of Harlem kill to 91st street 
as far west as Fifth avenue, to Hellgate 
bay, on East river. This was the home 
district of Rechewac, chief of the Reck- 
gawawanc, and was occupied by him and 
his people until 1669. It probably in- 
cluded a native village known as Ko- 
naande Kongh. 

6. Ranachqua (Map VII, C). The tract 

purchased of the sachem Rechewac and 
others by Jonas Bronck in 1639, and by 
him renamed "Emmaus." The name 
probably applied also to a native station 
of which traces have been found around 



221 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



222 



INDIAN PATHS 



the site of the one-time Gouverneur 
Morris mansion at Cypress avenue and 
131st street. 

Quinnahung (Maps VII, C, D). The 
Great Planting Neck, the modern Hunts 
point. Several sites around this favored 
locality are marked by native debris: 
(1) Around the site of the one-time 
house of the Richardson family, particu- 
larly about the spring nearby, near the 
old Hunt burial-ground. (2) On the 
Dickey estate on the Hunts Point road 
at Randall avenue. (3) On a mound 
surrounded by marsh-lands on the line 
of Eastern boulevard,' if extended. (4) 
At the extremity of the point, in front of 
the site of the one-time Hunt mansion. 

Snakapins (Map VII, D). A native 
village, the name of which was recorded, 
of extensive character, situated on a 
tract of sloping ground on the west side 
of the present Soundview avenue, where 
it is intersected b}^ Leland avenue. The 
site was covered by about sixty lodges. 
In the vicinity, south of the village, there 
was probably an extensive planting- 
ground. Fishing stations were situated 
along the shore, and t at Clasons point. 
The site was explored by Alanson 
Skinner for the Museum of the American 
Indian, Heye Foundation, in 1918. See 
Contributions from the Museum of the 
American Indian, Heye Foundation, vol. 
v, no. 4, part n, New York, 1919. 

Castle point or Castle hill (Map VII, 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX TO STATIONS 



223 



D). An important native station, the 
name of which has not been recorded, 
consisting of a palisaded enclosure, or 
fort, on the high mound on the west 
bank of Westchester creek, which was the 
site of the Screven residence. A village 
probably extended on the south side of 
the hill, the site being marked by debris. 
On the extreme point is a large shell- 
neap containing the discarded shells used 
in making wampum beads. The place 
was seen by Adrian Block on his voyage 
through the Sound in 1614. The hill, 
being about 60 feet in height, is quite 
conspicuous from the water. 

10. Burial point (Map VII, D). On Zeregas 

neck, or Old Ferry point. This place 
is said to have been the site of a burying- 
ground to which the natives brought 
their dead from the interior country. 
There are deposits of shells and scattered 
native objects along the shores of the 
point, indicating native occupancy. 
The probable site of the burial place is 
a mound facing Morris cove on the 
border of the marsh at the foot of the 
Ferris estate. The place is in full sight 
of Castle hill (9). 

11. Locust point (Map VII, D). Wrights 

island or neck on Throgs neck. Along 
the shore-line native objects indicate 
its former occupancy, probably as 
summer fishing places. Locust point, 
distinguished by a cluster of locust 
trees, is now under water at high-tide. 



AND MONOGR APHS 



224 



. INDIAN PATHS 



12. Weir creek (Map VII, D). On Throgs 

neck. An important native station 
situated on the shore at the mouth of the 
creek, on the Brown estate, near a small 
spring of fresh water. Its name is not 
recorded, but the site was in use by 
the Siwanoy after their contact with 
white men. It has been carefully ex- 
plored by the Museum of the American 
Indian, Heye Foundation. 

13. Bear swamp (Map VII, C). The site of 

a native village at Downings brook, on 
the present Bear Swamp road. This 
village, the name of which is not re- 
corded, was probably a principal station 
of the Siwanoy of the Bronx district, 
as they continued to occupy it until 
1782. 

14. Jeffreys hook (Map I). Manhattan 

Island, on the east bank of the Hudson, 
the modern Fort Washington point. A 
fishing station, evidenced by deposits of 
shells and charcoal, and by arrows found 
among the rocks on the beaches. Sever- 
al rock-shelters and camp-sites also have 
been traced along the riverside as far 
south as 158th street. 

15. Muscoota (Map V). The modern Dyck- 

man tract, comprising all the low- 
lands draining into Sherman basin, and 
the marsh meadows along the shore of 
Harlem river, which was referred to as 
"the Kil Muscoota." These lands 
extended as far north as Marble hill. 
The name indicates a meadow or place 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX TO STATIONS 



225 



where rushes grow. Around the tract 
evidences of native occupancy were 
found, at 196th to 201st streets, 208th 
and 209th streets, 213th street, and at 
219th street. In the interior of the area 
a ceremonial site at 212 th street and 
sundry places marked by food-pits have 
been discovered. 

16. Shorakapkok (Maps I, V). A name, fortu- 

nately preserved, applied to the locality 
under Inwood hill and to the western 
part of Spuyten Duyvil creek, on the 
bank of which, in the glen now called 
Cold Spring hollow, large deposits of 
debris, food-pits, and rock-shelters attest 
the long-continued native residence. 
The well-known Indian cave is one of the 
features of Shorakapkok. (See pi. n.) 

17. Nipnichsen (Map I). Berrians neck, 

Spuyten Duyvil hill. The site of a 
palisaded station, the precise position 
of which is not known. The name de- 
notes a muddy pond. Native debris was 
found on the summit overlooking the 
Hudson, but a more probable site has 
been recently discovered- near a small 
pond on the line of 231st street. 

18. Paparinemin or Papirinemin (Maps V; 

VI; VII, C). Applied both to the island 
which became the site of the village of 
Kingsbridge, and to that part of Spuyten 
Duyvil creek contiguous thereto. A 
favorite resort of the Reckgawawanc, 
one of whose stations was on the line of 
231st street overlooking the crossing of 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



226 



INDIAN PATHS 



the main path to the north and east 
countries. 

19. Mosholu or Keskeskick (Maps VII, A, 

C). An important village-site on the 
west bank of Mosholu brook, near the 
Van Cortlandt mansion in Van Cort- 
landt park. The title Keskeskick ap- 
plied to the range of hills forming part 
of Kingsbridge, Fordham, and Univer- 
sity Heights, probably as far south as 
Washington bridge. The village-site 
was close to the Van Cortlandt mansion. 
It was destroyed by grading the playing 
field. See Skinner, Archeological In- 
vestigations on Manhattan Island, In- 
dian Notes and Monographs, vol. n, no. 
6, 1920 

20. Nappeckamak (Map VII, A). The mod- 

ern Yonkers. A principal station of 
the Reckgawawanc chieftaincy which 
was probably situated near the outlet 
of the Neperah river, not far from Getty 
square, being thus close to the line of the 
Hudson River trail. 

21. Eastchester (Map VII, A). A native 

station at the junct.'on of the shore path 
and the path leading from the site of 
the town of Westchester. Said to have 
been a "castle." It probably occupied 
the high ground on the south side of the 
old Kingsbridge road, west of the New 
York, Westchester and Boston Railway 
tracks, where some traces of native 
occupancy are visible. 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX TO STATIONS 



227 



22. The site of Ann Hutchinson's house, on the 

east side of Eastchester creek, near the 
Split Rock (Map VII, B). It was along- 
side the Indian path which is the pres- 
ent Split Rock road. Here Ann Hutch- 
inson and her family were massacred in 
1643. 

23. Anns hook, possibly Asumsowis, the mod- 

ern Pells point (Map VII, B), Pelham 
neck, or Rodmans neck. The site of 
a considerable station, explored by M. 
R. Harrington on the northeastern 
side of the neck, and evidenced by large 
masses of shells and charcoal, and several 
human burials. This may have been the 
place in Pelham known to the natives as 
Asumsowis, which Tooker (Amerindian 
Names in Westchester County) considers 
to have been a personal name. 

24. Maninketsuck (Map VII, B). Roose- 

velts brook, close to the northern bound- 
ary of the City of New York. A site 
favorably situated along the north side 
of the brook, evidenced by quantities of 
shells and debris. Explored by Morgan 
H. Secor. 

25. Mishow (Map VII, B). The present 

Hunter island, probably including the 
contiguous Twin islands, now part of 
Pelham Bay Park. At several favorable 
places there are traces of native occu- 
pancy and many arrowheads have been 
found on the sandy beaches. The place 
is supposed to have been a resort for 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



228 



INDIAN PATHS 



ceremonies with which the great rock 
of Mishow was connected. 

26. Shippa (Map VII, B). Now Davenports 

neck. A large station of the Siwanoy. 

27. Echo bay (Map VII, B). New Rochelle. 

At Echo bay and in Hudson Park re- 
mains indicate Indian occupancy. 

50. Shanscomacocke (Map VIII, D). A 

large Indian village and burying-ground 
on the shore of the Strome kill, Gerritsen 
basin, or Ryders Pond, Flatlands. Ex- 
plored by D. B. Austin. Many objects 
plowed up in the course of cultivation in 
the vicinity are in possession of Mr. 
Ryder, resident nearby. 

51. Canarsee (Map VIII, D). The princi- 

pal station of the chieftaincy known by 
that name. This is supposed to have 
been situated at or near the present 
locality known as Canarsie; but there 
being no natural water supply, it is 
evident that the name was that of a 
locality, probably including the whole 
neck, on which were extensive planting- 
grounds. The station, as indicated by 
native objects discovered, was in the 
vicinity of Canarsie Beach Park, east 
of the line of Avenue M. The tract 
to the north and west is marked on old 
city maps as the "Canarsee planting 
land." The real headquarters of the 
tribe appears to have been Keskaech- 
querem (104). 

52. Winippague (Map VIII, D). The modern 

Bergen beach. Some native objects, 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX TO STATIONS 



229 



which include grooved axes, indicate 
native occupancy of this favorable place. 
Its aboriginal name denotes "a fine 
water-place" (Tooker, Indian Place 
Names). Armbruster says there are 
immense shell-beds on this island. D. 
B. Austin states that these beds cover 
the area of the center of the island, 
and that they were probably debris from 
the manufacture of wampum. 

53. Flushing (Map I) . Site of a large village 

of the Matinecock chieftaincy. Arm- 
bruster (Hist. L. I., its Early Days, etc., 
1914) says eleven native burials were 
disturbed within the area of the Linnasan 
gardens in 1841, and in 1880 a burying 
ground, on which were stone artifacts, 
was disturbed on the Thomas P. Duryea 
farm, a mile from Flushing. 

54. Hog island (Map I), situated in Brose- 

were bay, south of Hewlett. A station 
of the Rockaway chieftaincy, probably 
an appendage of the large village at 
Hewlett (55). 

55. Hewlett (Map I). About two miles 

beyond the boundary of Queens county, 
south of Valley Stream, was a native 
station of considerable extent. At this 
site many objects were discovered by 
George H. Pepper in an exploration con- 
ducted for the Museum of the American 
Indian, Heye Foundation. 
58. Cow bay (Map I). Site of a Matinecock 
village. This was explored in 1900 by 
M. R. Harrington, who found great 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



230 



INDIAN PATHS 



quantities of material in shell-pits, also 
many burials. The greater part of 
these objects is in the American Museum 
of Natural History, and one fine pointed- 
bottom jar is in the Museum of the 
American Indian, Heye Foundation. 

65. Mespaetches (Map VIII, B). The 

modern Maspeth. The name is applied 
to Newtown creek and the contiguous 
swampy area, and probably to the place 
of residence of some natives known as 
the Maspeth tribe. The name denotes 
"at the bad water place" (Tooker, 
Indian Place Names). 

66. Rinnegaconck (Maps II; VIII, A). A 

native site, evidenced by debris, fire- 
pits, and weapons, which existed on a 
hillock at Bridge street. This site is 
described and located by Gabriel Fur- 
man (Antiquities of Long Island, 
1875). The name was applied to the 
vicinity of Wallabout bay, and probably 
included this occupied station. 

67. Werpos, Worpus (Map VIII, A). A 

village in the 10th ward of old Brooklyn, 
bearing the same name as the Man- 
hattan village (2). It was situated near 
Hoyt and Baltic streets, on the old farm 
of Fredrick Lubbersen, and was then a 
close neighbor of Marechkawick (117). 

68. Nayack (Map VIII, C). The name de- 

noting a point of land, probably applied 
to the whole neck which now includes 
Bay Ridge and Fort Hamilton. The 
position of the native village to which 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX TO STATIONS 



the inhabitants of lower Manhattan 
retired is not known. It would have 
been favorably situated at the southeast 
end of the United States reservation near 
the water supply in Dyker Heights Park. 

69. Xarrioch (Map VIII, D). That part of 

Gravesend neck lying to the east of the 
town between Squam creek and Shell- 
bank creek. It is probable that native 
sites may be discovered along the latter 
water-course. The tract seems to have 
been an appendage of the Shanscoma- 
cocke village (50). 

70. Acquacanonck (Map I). The modern 

city of Passaic, a station, probably the 
principal headquarters, of the chief- 
taincy of the Acquacanonck. On the 
west bank of the Passaic river there was 
an Indian burying-place. The name, 
as usual, was applied to contiguous 
territory. 

71. Constable point (Map I). An extensive 

village-site and native burial-place ex- 
isted at this point, which is the southern 
extremity of Bergen neck. It was so 
isolated from the neck by swamps ex- 
tend ng from Bayonne to the Kill van 
Kull that it must have been reached 
mainly by canoe. x\nother occupied 
station is evidenced by shell-deposits on 
the west side of Bergen neck, at the 
right-of-way of the Central Railroad of 
New Jersey. 

72. Peltons cove (Map I). A village-site 

at the Upper cove, West Xew Brighton. 



231 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



232 



INDIAN PATHS 



It is now completely covered by modern 
improvements. As far back as 1850, 
Indian burials were reported to have 
been disturbed there. In 1903 a few 
traces of native occupancy were found 
along the line of the Shore railroad. 

73. Bowmans brook (Map I). An extensive 

village and burial place, of apparent 
Hackensack occupancy, situated along 
the brook, sometimes known as New- 
tons creek, or De Harts brook, dis- 
charging into the Kill van Kull. This 
was explored in 1903 by Alanson Skinner, 
who found more than a hundred frre- 
and shell-pits, and a number of human 
interments, with much pottery, and 
bone, antler, and stone implements. 

74. Mariners harbor (Map I). At Arling- 

ton station, a native village-site, with 
human interments, was discovered and 
explored in 1901, and further developed 
in 1918 by Alanson Skinner. 

75. Tunissens neck (Map I), or Old Place. 

A native site which yielded pottery, bone, 
and stone objects, indicating village 
life. 

76. Watchogue (Map I). A camping site on 

Big Hummock, at Bloomneld, the name 
denoting "hill land" (Tooker, Indian 
Place Names). Surface discoveries indi- 
cated seasonal occupancy. 
77 and 77 A. Long neck (Map I). Now 
Linoleumville. A native site on the 
sand-dunes. 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX TO STATIONS 



233 



78 



79 



80 



81 



S2 



Silver lake (Map I). A native camp-site 
on the shore of the lake, on which shell- 
pits were found. 

Fresh kill (Map I). At Lakes island, 
where there is now a garbage incinerat- 
ing plant, there were many evidences of 
native occupancy, some having been 
observed by Thoreau and mentioned 
in his letters. 

Rossville (Map I). A shellheap, with 
evidences of vary ancient existence, was 
explored by Alanson Skinner. 

Sandy ground (Map I). At Bogardus 
Corners. A village-site was discovered 
by Alanson Skinner. 

Woodrow (Map I). Along Sandy brook 
there are evidences of native occupancy 
spread over a considerable area, 
apparently forming an extension of the 
village at Bogardus Corners (81). 
83. Ward point (Map I). Near Tottenville. 
This very extensive native station is 
evidenced by masses of debris, accumu- 
lated to a considerable depth and spread 
irregularly over many acres. Part of 
the site was explored in 1898 by George 
H. Pepper, who discovered a number of 
burials, and many objects have since 
been unearthed through further explora- 
tion by M. R. Harrington for the Mu- 
seum of the American Indian, Heye 
Foundation. 

Harbor hill (Map I) . An Indian site at 
the Harbor hill, at the golf links, was 



86 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



234 



INDIAN PATHS 



disclosed by the explorations of Alanson 
Skinner. 
87. Chelsea (Map I). At the junction of 
the Bloomfi.eld road and Union avenue, 
a native station with a burying-ground 
existed. 

89. New Spring ville (Map I). On Corsons 

brook. A site reported, but not 
explored. 

90. Simonsons brook (Map I). On the north 

side of Richmond creek. At the 
Ketchum mill-pond there are evidences 
of an occupied station. 

91. Green ridge (Map I). A site is noted by 

Skinner near the Richmond plank road, 
between Journeay avenue and Anna- 
dale road. 

92. Princes bay, Princess bay (Map I). An 

unexplored site at the bay, and another 
site marked by a shell-pit arid scattered 
objects on the shore halfway to the 
lighthouse, all indicate native stations, 
probably for fishing purposes. 

93. Segulne point (Map I). A camp-site, 

probably a fishing station. 

94. Woods or Arden (Map I). On the shore, 

near the mouth of Great kills, there is a 
place which shows signs of native occu- 
pancy, but not of extensive character. 

95. Shawcopshee, the modern Oakwood 

(Map I). The probable name of the 
Great kills, which may have been the 
refuge, for about 16 years, of the Nayack 
natives when they removed from Long 
Island. At the head of the kills there 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX TO STATIONS 



235 



are signs of occupancy, but they are not 
indicative of long-continued residence. 

96. Arrochar (Map I). An ancient settle- 

ment is indicated. 

97. Stapleton (Map I). A station is re- 

corded, but its position is indefinite. 

98. Conykeekst (Maps I, IV). The tract 

known by this queer title is now the 
modern Harlem, east side. A native 
fishing and oystering station evidently 
existed at 121st street, on the line of 
Pleasant avenue (or Avenue A), which 
probably bore the local name. 

99. Shepmoes (Map VIII, A). At east 14th 

street, probably near Second avenue, 
there was a small station or plantation, 
which may have been named from some 
nearby brook. (Colonial Docs. N. Y., 
vol. xiv, p. 110.) 

100. Tubby hook (Maps I, V). At this point, 

extending into the Hudson river at 
Dyckman street, there was a very an- 
cient station, the extensive deposits of 
debris being located on the shore of the 
"Little Sand bay," on the south side 
of Dyckman street. It was recently 
explored by Alanson Skinner for the 
Museum of the American Indian, Heye 
Foundation. 

101. Jameco (Tooker) , Chamakou (Armbruster) 

(Map I). The modern Jamaica. A 
native settlement seems to have existed 
near the Beaver pond, whence the name 
of the locality was derived, "yemacah" 
denoting the beaver, according to 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



236 



INDIAN PATHS 



Tooker. Armbruster considers the 
name to be that of a small tribe of 
survivors of original natives of Long 
Island, overcome by the Canarsee. 
"The beaver path" led from the native 
village to the pond. 

102. Throgs neck (Map VII, D). A native 

site is indicated by burials which have 
been disturbed at St Raymond's ceme- 
tery on the Throgs Neck road. 

103. Laaphawachking (Map VII, B). Pelham 

Bay park on the Bartow estate. A 
locality name probably applied to a 
quite important native site, close to the 
Shore road or Pelham Bridge road, with- 
in the Bartow property now owned by 
the City of New York. This site, which 
was discovered and explored by the Rev. 
W. R. Blackie, for the Museum of the 
American Indian, Heye Foundation, 
gives evidence of considerable size and 
length of occupancy. 

104. Keskaechquerem or Keskaechqueren 

(Map VIII, D). Flatlands. There 
was a native village at this place, on the 
site afterward and still occupied by the 
Dutch church, on Flatbush avenue, near 
its junction with the King's Highway, 
old Flatlands Neck road, and the Mill 
road. There was also a burying-ground. 
The important position occupied by 
this station, at the junction of these 
trails, and its situation in the locality 
where the famous Council-place was 
known to exist, seem to indicate it as 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX TO STATIONS 



237 



the gathering place known by the native 
name which denotes a place where pub- 
lic meetings took place. (See Colonial 
Docs. N. Y., vol. xrv. pp. 14, 36.) 

105. Massabarkem or Gravesend (Map VIII, 

C). The village established by Lady 
Deborah Moody and her associated 
refugees. The acquisition of land con- 
veyed a tract misspelled as above, but 
ind eating "land by the great water," 
and probably applied to whatever native 
settlement existed in the vicinity, such as 
the planting-grounds at the Indian pond 
(106). (See Munsell, Hist. Kings Co., 
p. 18.) 

106. The Indian pond (Map VIII, C). A pond 

of fresh water, situated at the locality 
now known as Marlboro, around which 
the natives had a cultivated tract. The 
pond has long retained its name, appear- 
ing on modern maps. 

107. New Utrecht (Map VIII, C). Probable 

site of a nat ve station, perhaps the 
home of Chippahig, who had sold lands 
which on their eastern bounds touched 
the western line of Gravesend at the 
Indian pond. There was a native path 
extending from the main path through 
the site of New Utrecht, which ran to the 
beach at Gravesend bay. It indicates the 
probability of a native settlement at its 
junction with the ancient pathway. 

108. Muskyttehool (Map VIII, D). A lo- 

cality at the Paardegat or Bedford creek, 
where it is crossed by the Flatlands 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



238 



INDIAN PATHS 



Neck road. It was used as a boundary- 
mark. 

109. Sunset park (Map VIII, C). Benny- 

water pond, in Sunset park, west of 
Greenwood, was an Indian site located 
by Adam Dove, of Gowanus. Near- 
by, at 37th street near Sixth avenue, 
objects were disturbed, indicating the 
existence of a station, near an Indian 
path which was known and used as a 
boundary in 1696. 

110. Gowanus bay (Map VIII, _C). At the 

De Hart Bergen house-site there is 
record of Indian occupancy and im- 
mense oyster-shell beds, etc., in the 
Journal of Sluyter and Dankers. This 
may have been the home of the chief 
Gouwane. Its position is in the vicinity 
of Third avenue at 37th street. 

111. Sun wick, Sunwicks, Suns wicks (Map 

VIII, B). A native station, indicated 
by shell-deposits and a few objects, on 
the shore of East river, at Ravenswood 
Park, near the creek which is recorded as 
bearing this name. 

112. Minnahanonck (Map VIII, B). Black- 

wells island. The island was owned and 
perhaps occupied by natives of the 
Marechkawick or Brooklyn chieftaincy. 

113. Pagganck (Maps II; VIII, A). Nutten 

island, Nut island, now Governors island. 
Owned and probably occupied by natives 
of the Marechkawick chieftaincy. 
114. Aressick, or Paulus hook (Maps 
II; VIII, A). A native village was 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX TO STATIONS 



239 



situated on this favorable promontory, 
which was acquired from the occupants 
by Director Kieft in 1638. It has a 
dramatic interest as the scene of the 
bloody massacre of its unfortunate 
inhabitants by the Dutch soldiery in 
1643. 

115. Harsimus, or Ahasimus (Maps II; VIII, 

A). Site of a native village on the 
Jersey side of Hudson river, between 
Paulus hook (114) and Hoboken (116). 
Probably the name was H 'ashim-muck, 
that is, "the place where there is a 
spring of drinking water." The place 
is indicated on Ratzer's survey on the 
north side of the cove formed by the 
hook, about the present 5th street and 
Henderson street. 

116. HOBOKAN, Or HOBOKAN-HACKINGH (Maps 

II; VIII, A). A native station of 
importance, situated near Hudson and 
2d streets, at Castle point. It was evi- 
dently a trading place, whence goods 
were transported across the Hudson to 
Sapohanikan (4), and by its position on 
the Bergen peninsula was best situated 
to foot travel toward the mountain 
regions north and west. 

117. Marechkawick or Mareyckawick( Map 

VIII, A). The headquarters of the 
chieftaincy of that name, probably situ- 
ated on the main trail from the ferry 
(Fulton street) at or near Gallatin place 
and Elm place. The name was probably 
applied to its vicinity, including nearby 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



240 



INDIAN PATHS 



planting-grounds (Colonial Hist. N. Y., 
vol. xrv, p. 5). The village cornfields 
covered the space between Atlantic ave- 
nue and Baltic street, east of Court 
street. 

118. Gamoenepa, or Communipaw (Map I). 

The name, denoting "where the water 
remained," was applied at times to the 
whole of Bergen neck. Near the shore- 
line there was some dry gound situated 
in the midst of a wide area of marsh, 
which may have been occupied as the 
village-site, but the precise position of 
the Indian village is not recorded. 

119. Acqueegenom (Map VII, C). A native 

name indicating the situation of the 
crossing over the Aquehung or Bronx 
river, at or near Pelham parkway, of the 
path to Westchester. The nearest 
known station of the natives was that 
on the east side of the river (13). 

120. Cowangongh (Map VII, A). A name 

applied to the place where the shore 
path, "Sachkerah," crossed the Bronx 
river at Williamsbridge, on the line of 
the Gunhill road. The name indicates 
it as a sort of boundary place where the 
territory of the Weckquaesgeek and 
Siwanoy met. 

121. Seton falls (Map VII, A). Near the 

bend of Rattlesnake creek, on the Seton 
estate, there is a cave, near a small 
cataract, and some embankments, said 
to have been constructed by natives. 
This is a reputed Indian resort in dense. 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX TO STATIONS 



woodlands, well suited to the purpose of 
a hiding place, and about midway be- 
tween the Shore path and the West- 
chester-Eastchester path. 

122. Little Neck, or Douglaston (Map I). 
A favorite locality for native occupancy, 
evidenced by abundant shell-deposits, 
and the signs of a village and burial- 
ground, probably of the Matinecock. 

122a.PuDDLNG rock (Map VII, C). A glacial 
bowlder, stated to have been used by 
natives as a resort, situated at the 
Boston road, south of East 166th 
street, Borough of the Bronx (Historical 
Guide to the City of New York, City 
History Club, p. 212, 1913\ It is not 
near any water supply, and is therefore 
unlikely to have been a permanent 
station. (Inadvertently omitted from 
the map.) 



241 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



242 



INDEX OF PROPER NAMES 

Academy street, 85 

Achterveldt, 148 

Acquacanonck, Acqueanounck, 34, 120, 122, 

201, 231. See Hutchinson river 
Acqueegenom, 100, 104, 111, 240 
Adees point, 113 
Ahasimus, 239. See Harsimus 
Albany avenue, 92 
Albany crescent, 102 
Albany Post-road, 19, 79, 91 
Albany trail, 98 
Amboy (N. J.), 38, 204 
Amboy road, 190, 193 

American Museum of Natural History, 230 
Amersfoort, 157, 169. See Nieuw Amersfoort 
Ancient One, The. See Mechowodt 
Ancient Pathway, the, 155, 157. See Mechawa- 

nienck 
Annadale road, 193, 234 
Anns hook, 123, 227 
Aqueduct avenue, 107 
Aquehonga, 194 
Aquehonga-Monacknong, 187 
Aquehung, 104, 105, 240. See Bronx river 
Archer, John, 99 
Areola, 201 

Aressick, 198, 199, 238. See Paulus Hook 
Arlington Station, 191, 192, 232 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX 



Armbruster, Eugene L., 45, 130, 172, 173, 

175, 183,229,235,236 
Arrochar, 190, 195, 235 
Arthur kill, 190 
Aspetong, see Ispetong 
Astor place, 58, 59, 60, 64, 65 
Asumsowis, 227 

Atlantic avenue, 138, 142, 145, 147, 178, 240 
Atlantic Highlands, N. J., 38 
Audubon lane, 78 

Austin, D. B., 130, 150, 158, 160, 228, 229 
Avenue A, 74, 235. See Pleasant avenue 
Avenue C, or Castle Point road, 1 14 
Avenue G (Kings), 153 
Avenue K (Kings), 152 
Avenue L (Kings), 152 
Avenue M (Kings), 228 
Avenue O (Kings), 163 
Avenue P (Kings), 162 
Avenue Q (Kings), 162, 166 
Avenue R (Kings), 166 
Avenue T (Kings), 154, 160 
Avenue U (Kings), 155, 158 
Avenue V (Kings), 161 

Bailey avenue, 102 

Baltic street (Kings), 138, 139, 230 

Barren island (Equendito), 161 

Barrett creek, 115 

Barrier Gate, 67 

Bartow creek, 127 

Bartow estate, 124, 236 

Battery, the, 38 

Battle pass, Prospect Park, 143, 147 

Bay Forty-fifth street, 166 

Bayonne, N. J., 198, 231 



243 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



244 



INDIAN PATHS 



Bay Ridge, 143, 169, 230 

Bayside, 172 

Beach lane (Kings), 162, 166 

Beach Park (Kings), 148, 150 

Bear Swamp, 110, 111, 114, 224 

Bear Swamp road, 224 

Beaver Path, the, 236 

Beaver pond, 180, 182, 235 

Beaver street, 52 

Bedford (Kings), 145, 178 

Bedford avenue, 145 

Bedford corners, 179 

Bedford creek, 148, 237 

Bedford Four-corners. 145 

Bedford highway, 178 

Bennett lane (Kings), 169 

Bennywater pond, 238 

Bensonhurst, 168 

Bergen beach, 148-149, 151, 154, 228. See 

Winippague 
Bergen Beach road, 154 
Bergen, De Hart, 238 
Bergen, Hon. Teunis G., 138 
Bergen island, 132 

Bergen neck, 198, 199, 200, 231, 240 
Bergen peninsula, 239 
Berrians neck, 96, 225. See Konstabelsche 

hook 
Bestavaer brook, 60, 
Bestevaars kill (Kings), 157. See Paardegat 

basin 
Bethune street, 58, 221 
Betts, William, a farmer, 101 
Bevors, Maritie, 139, 141 
Big Hummock, 232 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX 



Blackie, Rev. William R., 124, 236 

•Blackwells island, 67, 169, 176, 238 

Block, Adrian, 223 

Bloomfield, 191, 232 

Bloomfield road, 234 

Bloomingdale crossroad, 63 

Bogardus Corners, 233 

Bolton, Rev. Robert, 128, 185 

Bolton road, 84 

Borden avenue (Queens), 174 

Borough of Bronx, 25, 30, 47, 90, 98, 102, 104, 

107, 109, 110, 176, 224, 241 
Borough of Brooklyn, 25, 39, 50, 51, 55, 129, 

131, 132, 133, 135, 137, 140, 143, 145, 170, 

172, 174, 186, 230, 238 
Borough of Queens, 145, 171, 174, 179, 180 
Boscobel avenue, 107 
Boston & Westchester Railway. See New 

York, Westchester and Boston Railway 
Boston avenue, 116 
Boston Post-road, 30, 31, 99, 101, 109, 116, 

117, 121, 122, 123 * 

Boston Road, 63, 241. See Post Road, the 
Bound brook, 105 
Bowery, the, 42, 49, 50, 55, 57, 58 
Bowmans brook, 191, 192, 232. See Newtons 

creek 
Breakneck hill, 76, 77 
Bridge street, 133, 230 
Broad street, 52 
Broadway, 19, 45, 47, 49, 52, 53, 63, 76, 79, 

80, 85, 86, 87, 91, 94 
Broadway (Queens), 179, 182, 183, 184 
Bronck, Jonas, 104-105, 106, 108, 221 



245 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



246 



INDIAN PATHS 



Broncks river, Broncks Ryver, 101. See Bronx 
river 

Bronx borough, see Borough of Bronx 

Bronx kills, 105-106 

Bronx Park, 104,110,111 

Bronx river, 99, 100, 104, 105, 109,. Ill, 113, 
118, 240 

Brookland, 139 

Brooklyn, see Borough of Brooklyn 

Brooklyn Bridge, 134 

Brooklyn Heights, 136 

Brooklyn path, 178 

Brooklyn plank-road, see Jamaica and Brook- 
lyn plank road. 

Brosewere bay, 229 

Brower's mill, 139 

Brown estate, 224 

Brown's lane, see De Bruyn's lane 

Bungay creek, 105, 106 

Burial point, 113, 223 

Burial ridge (S. I.), 194. See Tottenville 

Burr's corners, 66 

Bushwick, 145, 146, 153, 174 

Bushwick inlet, 146 

Bushwick place, 146 

Bushwick Railroad station (L. I. R. R.), 146 

Bushwick road, 146 

Bussing avenue, 119 

Calver, W. L., 86, 91, 92, 97, 106, 108, 175 

Canapaukah, 173 

Canapaukah creek, 175 

Canarissen, 149 

Canarsee Indians, 40, 43, 131, 132, 147, 148, 

149, 170, 173, 228, 236 
Canarsee Planting Land, 150, 228 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX 



Canarsie, 132, 140, 148, 149, 150, 153, 179, 228 

Canarsie avenue, 178 

Canarsie beach, 149 

Canarsie Beach Park, 157, 228 

Canarsie lane, 148, 178 

Canarsie neck. 150, 151, 157 

Castle Hill, 222, 223. See Castle Point (Bronx) 

Castle Point (Bronx), 114, 222 

Castle Point (N. J.), 199, 239 

Castle Point road (Bronx), 114 

Castle ton avenue, 192 

Castuteeuw, or Kes-asketu, 156 

Catiernut hill, 54 

Cave, Indian, see Indian Cave, the 

Cedar street (S. I.), 191 

Cemetery of the Holy Cross, Flatbush, 178 

Center street, 42 

Centerville, 198 

Central Park, 62, 68, 69, 71 

Central Railroad of New Jersey, 198, 231 

Chamakou, see Jamaica, Jameco 

Chatham square, 55 

Chatham street, 55 

Chelsea (S. I.), 193, 234 

Cherry street, 50, 55 

Chippahig, 237 

Church of the Ascension (S. I.), 191 

City Hall Park, 42, 49, 54 

City Island, 185 

City Island road, 127 

Clarendon Road (Kings), 151 

Clasons Point, 48, 115, 222 

Clinton street, 56, 221 

Clove of the Kill, 76 

Clove road (S. I.), 178, 179, 190 



247 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



248 



INDIAN PATHS 



Cold Spring Hollow, 84, 225 

Collect pond, see Kolch pond 

College Point, 172 

Columbus avenue Mt. Vernon, 120 

Communipaw (N. J.), 198, 240. See Ga- 

moenepa 
Concourse, see Grand Concourse 
Coney Island, 157, 162, 165 
Coney Island creek, 165 
Coney Island Jockey Club, 164 
Connecticut, 121 
Constable point, 198, 231 
Continental Village, 92 
Conykeekst, 72,-73, 74, 235 
Cool, Cornells, 144 
Cooper street, 86 
Corlears hook, 56, 67, 134, 220 
Cornells creek, 113, 115 
Corona (Queens), 175, 184 
Corsa lane, 122 
Corsons brook, 234 
Cortelyou lane, 168 
Cortelyou road, 148 
Council-place, the (Kings), 236 
Court street, 138, 140, 141, 240 
Cowangongh, 100, 118, 240 
Cow bay, 229 
Cripplebush road, 145 
Cromwells creek, 105, 108 
Cropsey avenue, 167 
Cross road, 66 
Croton, 92 

Croton aqueduct, 117 
Croton reservoir, 66, 71 
Cushetonk hills, 204 
Cypress avenue, 106, 222 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX 



Dankers, see Sluyter and Dankers 

Dash's lane, 95 

Davenports neck, 127, 228 

De Bruyn's lane, 167 

Degraw street, 141 

De Hart Bergen, see Bergen, De Hart 

De Harts brook, see Newtons creek 

De la Montagne, 68, 75 

Delaware, state o f , 38 

Delaware Indians, 69, 82, 99, 135, 177, 205, 

206. See Lenni Lenape 
Delaware river, 22, 205 
Depot lane, 79 
Devoes point, 108 
Dickey estate, 222 
Division street, 55 
Dobbs Ferry, 92 
Dongan Patent of 1685, 153 
Dongan street, 191 
Dosoris, 183 
Doughty, Elias, 99, 101 
Douglaston, 241. See Little Neck 
Dove, Adam, 130, 142, 238 
Dover street, 50, 55 
Downings brook, 111, 224 
Drake Park, 110 
Duane street, 47, 49, 53, 220 
Dunham avenue, 120 
Duryea, Thomas P., 182, 229 
Dutch Church (Kings), 136, 236 
Dutch kills, 173 

Dutch Reformed Church (Bronx), 103, 107 
Dutch, the, 132, 135, 149, 153, 167, 220, 221, 

239 
Dutch West India Company, 93 
Dyckman street, 62, 80, 84, 85, 235 



249 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



250 



INDIAN PATHS 



Dyckman tract, 85, 86, 96, 224 
Dyker Heights Park, 168, 231 
Dykman, Jan, 78 

Eastchester, 30, 99, 119, 121, 122, 123, 185, 

226 
Eastchester creek, 227 
Eastchester road, 121, 122 
Eastchester, Ten Farms of, 121 
Eastern Boulevard, 110, 112, 113, 222 
Eastern Parkway, 147 
Eastern Post-road, 64, 66, 67 
East Jersey, see New Jersey 
East New York, 154, 179 
East Pelham road, 127. See Pelham road 
East River, 21, 41, 44, 45, 49-50, 54, 55, 57, 

60, 66, 68, 69, 121-122, 131, 134, 137, 140, 

151, 171, 175, 184, 185, 221, 238 
East Sixth street, Mt. Vernon, 120. See Old 

Boston Post Road 
Echo bay, 228 

Eighth Regiment Armory, 103 
Eighth street, west (Kings), 166 
Eighteenth avenue (Kings), 167 
Eighty-first street, 66 
Eighty-first street (Kings),. 167 
Eighty-second street, 66 
Eighty-third street, 66 
Eighty-third street (Kings), 156 
Eighty-fourth street (Kings), 156, 168 
Eighty-fifth street, 66 
Eighty-sixth street (Kings), 144 
Eighty-eighth street, 68, 71 
Elderts lane, 179 
Elizabeth (N. J.), 197, 203, 204 
Elm place (Kings), 136, 239 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX 


251 


Elm street, 220 




Emmaus, 221 




Englewood (N. J.), 200 




Equendito, 161. See Barren island 




Erramorhas, 176 




Euclid avenue (Kings), 179 




Evil Spirit, see Manetto 




Exchange place, Jersey City, 199 




Farmers' bridge, 102 




Far Rockaway, 172 




Ferris mansion, 122, 223 




Ferris road, 113 




Fieldston road, 94 




Fifteenth avenue (Kings), 156, 168 




Fifth avenue, 65, 66, 67, 68, 72, 221 




Fifth avenue (Kings), 143 




Fifth street (Hoboken), 199, 239 




Fift3^-first street, 65 




Fifty-second street, 65, 66 




First avenue, 60, 70, 72 




Fish's point, 176 




Fitch, John, 46 




Flatbush, 147, 148, 163, 178 




Flatbush avenue, 140, 141, 143, 147, 148, 151, 




154,236 




Flatlands, 132, 140, 145, 149, 150, 151, 152, 




153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 159, 162, 170, 228, 




236 




Flatlands Neck road, 148, 151, 153, 236, 237- 




238 




Flushing, 171, 172, 173, 179, 181, 182, 183, 




184, 229 




Flushing avenue, 146, 179, 182, 184 




Flushing bay, 175, 176, 177, 185 




Flushing creek, 184 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





252 


INDIAN PATHS 




Flushing road, 180, 181 






Flushing turnpike, 177 






Fordham, 91, 102, 103, 105, 107, 109, 110, 


226 




Fordham Hospital, 104 






Fordham University, see St. John's College 




Fort George, 80, 81 






Fort Greene place, 142, 147 






Fort Hamilton, 50, 132, 140, 143, 144, 


168, 




178, 188, 230 






Fort Hamilton parkway, 156 






Fort Independence, 116 






Fort Number One, 97 




j 


Fort of 1812, 72 






Fort Washington, 80 






Fort Washington Park, 79 






Fort Washington Point, 79, 224 






Forty-first street, 66 






Forty-fourth street 65 






Forty-seventh street, 66 






Forty-eighth street, 65, 66 






Foster avenue, 148, 163 






Four Corners, the, 178 






Fourteenth street, east, 64, 235 






Fourth avenue, 65, 66 






Fourth avenue (Kings), 144 






Fourth ward (Kings), 133 






Fowler estate, 120 






Freeman avenue (Queens), 173 






Fresh creek (Kings), 157 






Fresh kill, Fresh kills, 190, 193, 233 






Fresh Pond road, 179 






Fresh Water pond, 44 






Front street (Kings), 133 






Fulton avenue, 180 






Fulton ferry, 131, 239 


■ 


INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX 


253 


Fulton street: (Kings) 135, 136, 140, 141; 




(Queens) 179, 182 




Furman, Gabriel, 132, 133, 134, 230 




Gallatin place, 136, 239 




Gamoenepa, 198, 240. See Communipaw 




Gansevoort street, 58, 59 




Gerritsen Basin, 132, 151, 157, 159, 162, 164, 




228 




Gerritsen creek, 151, 163 




Gerritsen, Hugh, 158, 160, 164 




Gerritsen, Wolphert, 44 




Getty square, Yonkers, 226 




Giles street, 116 




Glovers rock, 127 




Godwin, Joseph, 88 




Godwin's island, 88 




Goodrich map, 165-166 




Gouwane, Chief, 238. See Gowanus 




Gouwanis chieftaincy, 169 




Governors island, 153, 238. See Nut island, 




Nutten island 




Gowahasuasing, 83 




Gowanus, Gowanes, Gouwanes, 133, 136, 137, 




144, 155, 238 




Gowanus bay, 142, 143, 238 




Gowanus creek, 137 




Gowanus lane, 145 




Gowanus road, 142-143, 144 




Graham, Augustus, 143 


. 


Grand Concourse, 103, 117 




Grand Esplanade, 155 




Gravesend, 140, 151, 156, 161, 162, 163, 165, 




166, 169, 237 




Gravesend bay, 162, 166, 167, 237 




Gravesend beach, 167 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





254 


INDIAN PATHS 




Gravesend creek, 163 






Gravesend Neck, 163, 164, 231 






Gravesend Neck road, 158, 160, 162, 164 






Great Britain, 127 






Great Falls (N. J.), 201 






Great Kills, 195, 234 






Great Maize Land, The, 79 






Great Planting Neck, 222. See Hunts Point 




Great Tree, the, 128 






Green hills, 145, 178, 179 






Greenpoint, 145, 146 






Green Ridge, 193, 234 






Greenwich avenue, 59 






Greenwich landing, 39 






Greenwich Village, 221 






Greenwood, 238 






Greenwood cemetery, 143 






Green Wood point, 146 






Grenen Hont Punt, see Greenpoint 






Gunhill Road, 117, 240 






Guttaquoh, a sachem, 164 






Gysbert's eylandt, 165 






Hackensack, 50, 198, 199, 200 






Hackensack (chieftaincy), 188, 190, 221, 


232 




Hackensack river, 198, 200, 201, 205 






Hainesville (N. J.), 205 






Hall, Dr. Edward Hagaman, 86, 97 






Hall of Records, 54 






Hamilton, Alexander, 77 






Hamilton square, 66 






Hamon place, 142 






Hanse, Jacob, 138 






Hansen, Kaus, or Zemo Kamingh, 143 






Harbor Brook, 192 






Harbor Hill, 192, 233 






INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX 



Harbor HiU golf-links, 192 

Harlem, 31, 63, 75, 106, 235 

Harlem commons, 66 

Harlem creek, 69, 75, 76 

Harlem kill, 68, 221 

Harlem lane, 74, 75 

Harlem river, 74, 77, 81, 85, 108, 224 

Harrington, M. R., 69, 82, 83, 128, 194, 227. 

229, 233 
Harsen's crossroad, 66 

Harsimus (N. J.), 199, 239. See Ahasimus 
Harway basin, 162 
H'ashim-muck, 239 
Haverstraw, 202 
Hawthorne (N. J.), 201 
Heath avenue, 102 
Heermans, Augustine ; 43 
Hellegat, 70 

Hell Gate, 36, 69, 70, 71, 178, 184, 185, 186 
Hellgate bay, 221 
Hempstead, 171, 180 
Hempstead bay, 181 
Henderson street, Hoboken, 199, 239 
Henry street, 56, 221 
Hewlett, 172, 180, 181, 229 
Hicks neck, 181 
Highbridge, 107, 108 
Highlands, 92, 202 
High sandy banks, see Aquehonga 
Hills of Jochem Pieter, 76 
Hobokan, 59, 239 
Hobokan Hackingh, 199, 239 
Hoboken, 39, 199, 221, 239 
Hobson lane, 150 
Hog island, 181, 229 
Hohosboco, 171 



255 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



256 



INDIAN PATHS 



Hollis, 180 

Holy Cross Cemetery, Flatbush. See Ceme- 
tery of the Holy Cross 

Homecrest avenue, 164 

Hooker creek, 181 

Hoopaninak, 159 

Horatio street, 58, 221 

Howard avenue, 153 

Howlands hook, 191 

Hoyt street, 136, 137, 139, 230 

Hudson, Hendrik, 50 

Hudson Park, 228 

Hudson river, 19, 21, 31, 40, 41, 44, 45, 53, 
58, 62. 63, 76, 91, 97, 101, 197, 200, 206, 
224, 225, 226, 235, 239 

Hudson street (N. J.), 239 

Huguenot street, 121 

Hunt burial-ground, 222 

Hunt mansion, 110, 222 

Hunter estate, 125 

Hunter island, 125, 227 

Hunterfly road, 151, 153 

Hunters Point, 176 

Hunts Point, 105, 109, 110, 222 

Hunts Point road, 109, 222 

Hutchings, John, 46 

Hutchinson, Mrs. Ann, 123, 124, 227 

Hutchinson river, 30, 111, 119, 120, 121, 123. 
See Acqueanounck 

Hyatt tavern, 86 

Indian cave, 84, 225 
Indian pond, 166, 237 
Indian trail, 72 
Institute Park, 147 
Intervale avenue, 105 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX 



Inwood, 80, 81, 95 

Inwood hill, 83, 84, 225 

Iroquois, 91 

Isham estate 84 

Isham street, 86 

Island of Manhattan, see Manhattan 

Island of Paparinemin, see Paparinemin 

Ispetong, 60 

Jackson avenue, 184 

Jamaica, 171, 172, 179, 180, 181, 184, 235 

Jamaica and Brooklyn Plank Road, 178 

Jamaica avenue, 178, 179, 181 

Jamaica bay, 36, 148, 152, 157, 171, 172, 181 

Jamaica highway, 178 

Jameco, 235. See Jamaica 

James, J. B., 93, 94 

Jansen, Anthony, 167 

Jay street (Kings), 135 

Jefferson street, 56, 221 

Jeffreys hook, 224 

Jenkins, Stephen, 53, 87, 109, 122 

Jericho, 180 

Jericho road, 180. See Middle Post-road 

Jerome avenue, 103, 105, 107, 117 

Jerome reservoir, 117 

Jersey City, 199 

Johnson avenue, 173-174 

Johnson Foundry, 83 

Journeay avenue, 193, 234 

Jumel, Madame, 78 

Ka, a sachem, 144 
Kakapetteyno, a sachem, 152 
Kalch Hoek, 42, 43, 137, 220 
Kamingh, Zemo, or Kaus Hansen, 143 



257 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



258 



INDIAN PATHS 



Kappock street, 97 

Kapsee, Kap-se, 33, 51, 220 

Kaus Hansen, see Hansen, Kaus 

Kearney (N. J.), 200 

Kenrom, an Indian, 143 

Kents neck (N. J,), 204 

Kes-asketu or Castuteeuw, 156 

Keskaechquerem, Keskaechqueren, 150, 152, 
154, 156, 228, 236 

Keskeskick, 91, 93, 94, 102, 105, 226 

Kestateuw, 157 

Ketchum mill-pond, 193, 234 

Kieft, Gov. William, 94, 144, 149, 221, 239 

Kill Muscoota, 224 

Kill van Kull, 191, 198, 231, 232 

Kills path, 179 

Kingsbridge, 31, 39, 73, 82, 87, 90, 92, 116, 

225, 226 
Kingsbridge avenue, 87 
Kingsbridge road, 67, 102, 103, 107, 226 
Kingsbridge Road station (B. & W. Ry.), 

119 
Kings county, 43, 129, 130, 132, 171 
Kings highway, 34, 130, 140, 143, 144, 154, 

156, 157, 163, 166, 167, 178, 236 
Kings Oaks, 156 
Kingsway, 25. See Post-road 
Kips bay, 66, 67 
Kissing Bridge, 66 
Knoll, The, 80 
Kolch hill, 44, 45, 47 
Kolch pond, 44, 53, 54, 220 
Konaande Kongh, Konaandekong, 63, 68, 70, 

71, 221 
Konstabelsche hook, 96. See Berrians neck 
Kreischerville, 194 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX 



Laaphawachking, 124, 236 

Labadist monks. See Sluyter and Dankers 

Lafayette avenue, 192 

Lafayette street, 47 

Lake lane, 162, 166 

Lakes island, 194, 233 

Larchmont, 38 

Laurel hill, 174 

Lawrence street, 135 

Leland avenue, 115, 222 

Lenni Lenape, 39, 195, 202, See Delaware In- 
dians 

Lenox avenue, 72, 74 

Leonard street, 47 

Lexington avenue, 65, 68 

Linden (N. J.), 197 

Linden hill, 174, 179 

Linnaean gardens, 182, 229 

Linoleumville, 190, 193, 232 

Little Ferry, 200 

Little Kolch, 44. See Kolch pond 

Little Neck, 172, 183, 241. See Douglaston 

Little Sand bay, 80, 235 

Little Sand stream, 221 

Livingston (N. J.), 205 

Locust point, 113, 223 

Long Hill, 143 

Long Island, 38, 39, 40, 41, 50, 129, 131, 132, 
137, 145, 149, 182, 183, 184, 185, 206, 234, 
236 

Long Island City, 171, 173, 174-175, 179 

Long Island Railroad, 146 

Long Island Sound, 21, 36, 121, 125, 177, 181, 
185, 223 

Long Neck, 193, 232 

Lower bay, 36 



259 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



260 



INDIAN PATHS 



Lower path, 102, 107, 109 

Lubbersen, Lubbertse, Lubbertsen, Frederick, 

137-138, 139, 230 
Ludovics brook, 176. See Wessels brook 
Luna Park, Coney Island, 165 

Macomb's Dam Park, 108 

McGown's (McGowan's) pass, 31, 61, 67, 
72, 75 

Macutteris, 159, 161 

Madison avenue, 65, 68, 70 

Madison Square, 65 

Madison street, 56, 221 

Maganwetinnemin, a sachem, 170 

Mahican, 17 

Mahwah creek, 202 

Main street, 122 

Makeopaca, 156, 161, 162 

Malbone street, 147 

Mamaroneck, 121 

Maminipoe, 124 

Manetto, 185 

Manhasset, 183 

Manhattan, 19, 25, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39, 
40, 41, 47, 50, 51, 52, 57, 61, 62, 68, 74, 87, 88, 
91, 96, 98, 100, 101, 102, 106, 131, 132, 134, 
137, 140, 145, 151, 168, 170, 184, 186, 188, 
198, 199, 202, 206, 220, 224, 230, 231 

Manhattan street, 76 

Manhattans, the, 170 

Manhattanville, 69 

Maninketsuck, 126, 227 

Mannahanning, 162, 165. See Coney Island 

Marble Hill, 81, 82, 85, 86, 100, 224 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX 


261 


Marechkawick, Mareyckawick, Marvchken- 




wingh, 132, 133, 135, 137, 169, 170, 172, 230, 




238, 239 < 




Marechkawingh, 137 




Mariners Harbor, 191, 192, 232 




Market street, 56 




Marlboro, 237» 




Marsh View farm, 120 




Marychkenwingh, see Marechkawick 




Mashanscomacocke, 159 




Maspeth, 174, 177, 179, 230 




Maspeth creek, 174 




Maspeth tribe, 230 




Massabarkem, 163, 237. See Gravesend 




Matinecock Indians, 171, 173, 183, 229, 241 




Matockshegan, 204 




Mattano, 169 




Mattewan creek, 203 . 




Maunsell, General, 77 




May wood (N. J.), 201 




Meadow lane, 157 




Meadows, the, 70 




Mechawanienck, 144, 155, 156, 163, 164, 166, 




169 




Mechowodt, the Ancient One, 183. See Tac- 




kapoosa 




Meijeterma, 169, 170 




Menquaeruan, a sachem, 152 




Mentipathe, 105 




Mere, The, 72 




Mespaetches, 171, 173, 176, 230 




Metropolitan avenue, 146 




Michaux Rocks, 126. See Mishow 




Middle Path, the, 115 




Middle Post-road, 180. See Jericho road 




Middle Road, 66 




AND MONOGRAPHS 





262 



INDIAN PATHS 



Middletown (N. J.), 203 

Middle town Point (N. J.), 203 

Midwood street, 147 

Milford (N. J.), 205 

Mill brook, 103, 105, 106, 109, 117 

Mill island, 161 

Mill road, 150, 154, 236 

Mill road (S. I.), 193 

Milliken Brothers' Steel Works, 192 

Minetta, 60 

Minisink, 203 

Minisink, island of, 205 

Minisink path, 21, 39, 195, 202, 204 

Minnahanonck, 176, 238. See Blackwells island 

Minsi, 201 

Minuit, Peter, 43, 50, 168 

Mishow, 125, 227, 228. See Hunter island 

Mispat, 173-175, 177 

Mitchel square, 78 

Moeung, 162 

Mohawk, 19, 40, 57, 92, 96 

Montagne family, 68, 75 

Montagne's Flat, 69 

Montagnes point, 221 

Montgomery, W. R., 123 

Montgomery street; 178 

Monument lane, 59 

Moody, Lady Deborah, 164, 166, 237 

Morrisania, 73, 104, 108. See Ranachqua 

Morris county (N. J.), 205 

Morris cove, 113, 223 

Morris, Gouverneur, 106, 222 

Morris, Roger, 78 

Morris street, 53 

Mosholu, 90, 93, 226 

Mosholu avenue, 94 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX 



Mosholu brook, 92, 95, 226 

Mosholu Parkway, 117 

Moskituash, 161. See Macutteris 

Mott avenue, 108 

Mount Pleasant, 203 

Mount Vernon, City of, 119 

Municipal Building, 50 

Municipal Building (Kings), 141 

Muschenheim, William C, 97 

Muscoota, 72, 81, 82, 101, 102, 224 

Museum of the /American Indian, Heye Founda- 
tion, 81, 84, 112, 116, 124, 126, 158, 194, 
222, 224, 229, 230, 233, 235, 236 

Muskyttehool, 153, 237 

Nagel homestead, 85 

Naghtongh, 57. See Nechtank 

Nappeckamak, 226 

Narrioch, 164, 165, 231 

Narrioch neck, 162 

Narrows lane (Kings), 144 

Narrows, The, 33, 39, 166 

Nassau street, 53, 54 

Navasink, 166, 203 

Navasink river, 203 

Navy Yard, 134 

Nayack, 50, 131, 132, 144, 145, 166, 168, 169, 

170, 188, 230, 234 
Near Rockaway, 172, 180. See Far Rockaway, 

Rechquakie, Rockaway, Rockaway Beach, 

Rockaway Point 
Nechtank, 57. See Naghtongh 
Negro Fort, 117 
Neperah river, 226 
Nevins street, 141 
New Amsterdam, 32, 36, 37, 61, 75, 76 



263 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



264 



INDIAN PATHS 



Newark (N. J.), 203 

Newark bay, 198, 200 

New Boston Post Road, 123. See Boston 
Post Road 

New Bridge (N. J.), 201 

New Brighton, 190 

Newcastle (Del.), 38 

New England, 20, 21, 99, 110, 127 

New Haerlem, 61, 72 

New Haven Railroad, 108, 111, 124 

New Jersey, 22, 39, 41, 59, 166, 197, 202, 203. 
205, 206, 239 

New Lots, 153 

New Netherland, 21 

New Rochelle, 121, 127, 228 

New Springville, 193, 234 

Newton avenue, 94 

Newtons creek (S. I.), 192, 232. See Bowmans 
brook, De Harts brook 

Newtown (Queens), 132, 171, 173 

Newtown creek, 171, 173, 230 

Newtown inlet, 60 

Newtown road, 145, 179 

New Utrecht, 140, 148, 151, 156, 166, 167, 
168, 169, 237 

New York and Harlem Railroad, 118 

New York Bay, 166, 177, 197, 202 

New York Catholic Protectory, 115 

New York Central Railroad, 86 

New York commons, 66 

New York Historical Society, 203 

New York, Westchester and Boston Railway, 
119, 226 

Nichols, Governor, 121 

Nieuw Amersfoort, 149, 151, 152. See Flat- 
lands 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX 



Ninetieth street, 66 

Ninety-first street, 221 

Ninety-second street 67, 70 

Ninety-fourth street, 63 

Ninety-fifth street, 68 

Ninety-sixth street, 62, 63, 68 

Ninety-seventh street, 71 

Ninety-eighth street, 68, 71 

Nipnichsen, 95, 96, 98, 225 

North Beach, 176, 177 

North Bergen (N J.), 199 

Northfield (N. J.), 205 

North Hempstead, 178 

North river, see Hudson river 

North shore, 183, 184 . 

North Woodside, 177 

Nuasin, 108. See Macomb's Dam Park 

Nut island, 238. See Governors island Nut- 
ten island 

Nutten island, 238. See Governors island. 
Nut island 

Oakwood, 195, 234 
Observatory place, 66 
Ocean parkway, 163 
Oestdorp, 122. See Westchester 
Old Boston Post-road, 120 See Boston Post- 
road, Boston Road 
Old Ferry point, 113, 223 
Old Ferry road, 178 . 
Old Place, 191, 192, 232 
Old Point Comfort tavern, 122 
Old Wreck brook, 55 
One Hundredth street, 68, 70 
One Hundred Third street, 69 
One Hundred Fourth street, 72 



265 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



266 



INDIAN PATHS 



One Hundred Fifth street, 67, 68 

One Hundred Seventh street, 67, 69 

One Hundred Eighth street, 73 

One Hundred Tenth street, 72, 74 

One Hundred Eleventh street, 72, 74 

One Hundred Fourteenth street, 74 

One Hundred Fifteenth street, 75 

One Hundred Twentieth street, 72 

One Hundred Twenty-first street, 72, 235 

One Hundred Twenty-third street, 73, 74 

One Hundred Twenty-fourth street, 76 

One Hundred Twenty- fifth street, 72, 76 

One Hundred Thirtieth street, 76, 105 

One Hundred Thirty-first street, 222 

One Hundred Thirty-second street, 106 

One Hundred Thirty-eighth street, 108 

One Hundred Forty-first street, 77 

One Hundred Forty-third street, 77 

One Hundred Forty-seventh street, 77 

One Hundred Fifty-third street, 78, 108 

One Hundred Fifty eighth street, 78, 224 

One Hundred Sixtieth street, 78 

One Hundred Sixty-sixth street, 241 

One Hundred Sixty-eighth street, 78 

One Hundred Sixty-ninth street, 107, 108 

One Hundred Seventy- third street, 79 

One Hundred Seventy-sixth street, 79 

One Hundred Seventy-seventh street, 79, 109 

One Hundred Seventy-ninth street, 79 

One Hundred Eightieth street, 79 

One Hundred Eighty-first street, 79, 109 

One Hundred Eighty-second street, 109 

One Hundred Ninety-fifth street, 80 

One Hundred Ninety-sixth street, 225 

Oneroad, Amos, 81, 116 

Oranges, the, 38 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX 



Ossining, 92 
Out Ward, 42, 57 
Overpeck creek, 200 
Overton place, 165 

Paardegat, 153, 237 

Paardegat basin 157 

Paardegat creek, 151, 157 

Paardegat inlet, 148 

Pacific street, 138, 141 

Pagganck, 238 

Palisade region, 199 

Paparinemin, Papirinemin, Papparinamin, 32 

82, 88, 89, 90, 225 
Park avenue, 71 
Park drive, 71 

Park Row, 47, 49, 53, 54, 55 
Pascal avenue, 94 
Passaic (N. J.), 201, 231 
Passaic river, 21, 201, 204, 205, 231 
Passaic valley, 201 
Paterson (N. J.), 38, 201 
Paulus hook, 199, 238, 239. See Aressick 
Paulus, Mr., 169 

Pearl street, 45, 47, 51, 54, 55, 220 
Peekskill, 92 

Pelham, 30, 99, 126, 128, 227 
Pelham avenue, 103 
Pelham Bay, 125, 127 
Pelham Bay Park, 227, 236 
Pelham-Bay-Yiew Park, 122 
Pelham Bridge road, 236 
Pelham Heath Inn, 122 
Pelham Manor, 121, 123, 125, 127 
Pelham neck, 123, 185, 227 
Pelham Parkway, 104, 111, 122. 240 



267 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



268 



INDIAN PATHS 



Pelham Road, 127 

Pell, Thomas, 123, 124 

Pells point, 227 

Peltons cove, 191, 231 

Penadnic, 76 

Pennoyer, Robert, 167 

Pepper, George H., 229, 233 

Pequot, 20, 40 

Perth Amboy (N. J.), 195, 203, 204 

Petersen, Jan, 144 

Pewichaus, 153 

Pidgeon Hill (N. J.), 203 

Pieter Tuynier's fall, see Tuynier, Pieter 

Plaza, the, 147 

Pleasant avenue, 74, 235. See Avenue A 

Plumb island, 161 

Poe, Edgar Allan, home of, 103 

Poe Park, 103 

Point of Rocks, 76 

Point Rechewanis, 69. See Rechewanis 

Pompton (N. J.), 202 

Pompton Plain (N. J.), 201 

Pompton road, 201-202 

Portland point, 203 

Port Washington, 38, 183 

Post Road, 25, 63. See Boston Road, Kingsway 

Potters hill, 54 

Pratt, F B , 158 

Preakness valley, 201 

Preble street, 110 

Prescott avenue, 84 

Princes bay, Princess bay, 195, 234 

Prospect avenue (Kings), 147 

Prospect Hill road, 123 

Prospect Park, 141, 143, 147 

Prospect reservoir, 147 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX 



Prospect street (Kings), 141 
Public School No. 1, 120, 121 
Public School No. 24, 97 
Pudding rock, 241 
Pugsley creek, 115 

Quandoequareous, 173 
Queens, see Borough of Queens 
Queensboro bridge , 173, 175 
Queens county, 172, 179, 229 
Quiet Vale, 75. See Vredendal 
Quinnahung, 105, 109, 110, 176 
Quinnikeek, 73 

Rahway river, 205 

Ramapo mountains, 202, 205 

Ramapo river, 202 

Ranachqua, 73, 104, 105, 106, 109, 221. See 

Morrisania 
Randall avenue, 222 
Randel, John, 66 
Rapelye avenue, 173 
Raritan, 166, 188 
Raritan bay, 194 
Raritan river, 21, 203, 204 
Rattlesnake creek, 240 
Ratzer, Lieut. B., 46, 52, 134, 239 
Raunt, the, 172 
Ravenswood Park, 175, 238 
Rechewac, Reckgawack, chief of the Reckgawa- 

wanc, 68, 70, 93, 221 
Rechewanis, 68, 69, 73, 221 
Rechewas point, 68, 221 
Rechquakie, 172. See Far Rockaway, Near 

Rockaway, Rockaway, Rockaway Beach, 

Rockaway Point 



269 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



270 



INDIAN PATHS 



Rechtauck, Rechtanck, 56, 57, 134, 220 

Reckgawack. See Rechewac 

Reckgawawanc, 34, 63, 68, 71, 73, 78, 92 

94, 107, 221, 225, 226 
Red Hook, 137, 140, 141 
Red Hook lane, 138, 139, 141 
Revolution, the, 107, 117, 147 
Richardson house, 110, 222 
Richmond, 39, 187, 190, 193 
Richmond avenue, 196 
Richmond creek, 234 
Richmond Hill, 179 
Richmond Plank road, 234 
Richmond road" 190 
Richmond turnpike, 190 
Riker, James, 32, 72, 75 
Rikers island, 176 
Rinnegaconck, 134, 141, 153, 230 
Riverdale, 95 
Riverside Drive, 80 
Riverside Park, 63 
Rochambeau street, 117 
Rochelle, 128 
Rockaway, 37 
Rockaway (chieftaincy), 132, 171, 172, 181 

229 
Rockaway Beach, 172, 181 
Rockaway neck, 180, 181 
Rockaway path, 131, 145, 151, 154, 178, 179 

184 
Rockaway Point, 172 
Rockaway Road, 182 
Rockville Center, 172 
Rodmans neck, 227 
Roosevelt street, 44, 54, 55 
Roosevelts brook, 125, 126, 227 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX 



Rossville, 194, 233 
Run, The, 80 
Rutgers, Anthony, 44 
Ryder, Charles, 228 
Ryders lane, 158 
Ryders pond 157, 228 

Sachkerah, Sackerath, 33, 99, 101, 102, 240 

Sackhickneyah, 177, 184 

Sackwrahung, 105, 106 

Saddle river (N. J.), 201 

St. George, 187, 190, 192 

St. John's College (now Fordham University). 

104 
St. Nicholas avenue. 74, 77 
St. Paul's Church, 120 
St. Raymond's cemetery, 112, 113, 236 
Sandberg, 60 
Sand hill, see Sandberg 
Sandy brook, 194, 233 
Sandy Ground, 233 

Saperewack, 82, 86, 100. See Marble Hill 
Sapohanikan, Sappokanikke, 58, 59, 63, 221, 

239 
Sassian's maize-land, 138 
Sawmill river, 95 
Schenck, Captain John, 161 
Schoolcraft, H. R., 57, 60 
Schreyers hoek, Schryers hook, 51, 165, 220 
Screven residence, 114, 223 
Screvens point, 113. See Castle point 
Seabrey creek, 111 
Seaman avenue, 83, 84, 87 
Second avenue, 64, 65, 66, 70, 74, 235 
Second street (Kings), 140 
Second street, Hoboken, 239 



271 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



272 



INDIAN PATHS 



Secor, Morgan H., 227 

Sedgwick avenue, 102, 103, 116 

Seguine point, 195, 234 

Seisen, 169 

Seton estate, 240 

Seton falls, 240 

Seventh avenue, 75 

Seventh avenue (Kings), 142, 143 

Seventeenth street, 65 

Seventy-first street, 66 

Seventy-seventh street, 66 

Seventy-eighth street (Kings), 169 

Seventy-ninth street, 62 

Seventy-ninth street (Kings), 156, 169 

Seyseys, a sachem, 170 

Shanscomacocke, 159, 160, 161, 228, 231 

Shawcopshee, 234 

Shawestcout, 1 76 

Sheepshead Bay, 163-164 

Shell road, 165 

Shellbank creek, 161, 164, 231 

Shepmoes, 64, 235 

Sherman basin, 224 

Sherman creek, 80 

Shippa, 228 

Shorakapkok, 81, 83, 84, 87, 96, 225 

Shore driveway, 127 

Shore Line railroad, 142, 232 

Shore path, 100, 101, 102, 116, 118, 121, 122 

123, 241 
Shore road, 30, 31, 33, 99, 124, 236 
Shore road (S. I.), 191, 192 
Short Hills (N. J.), 201, 205 
Shrewsbury river, 22 
Silver Lake, 190, 192, 233 
Silver street, 111, 122 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX 



Simonsons brook, 193, 234 

Sint Sinck, 176 

Siwanoy, 34, 40, 99, 101, 104, 107, 110, 112. 
113, 114, 116, 119, 122, 123, 128, 224, 228; 
240 

Sixth avenue, 67 

Sixth avenue (Kings), 142, 143, 238 

Sixty-second street, 66 

Sixty-second street, east (Kings), 161 

Sixty-third street, 66 

Sixty-sixth street, 66 

Sixty-eighth street, 66 

Sixty-ninth street, east (Kings), 154 

Skinner, Alanson, 79, 81, 115, 191, 195, 222. 
226, 232, 233, 234, 235 

Skupash, 180 

Sluyter and Dankers, 63, 142, 238 

Smith's tavern, 66 

Snakapins, 48, 115, 176, 222 

Sound shore, 21, 30, 40, 99, 185 

Soundview avenue, 115, 222 

South Amboy (N. J.), 203 

South avenue (S. I.), 192 

South Bensonhurst, 156, 166. See Benson- 
hurst 

South Country road, 180 

South Flatbush, 151. See Flatbush 

South Post-road, 180. See South Country 
road 

South river, see East River 

South street (Queens), 182 

South Seventh street, Mt. Vernon, 119 

South Twelfth avenue, Mt. Vernon, 119 

South Williamsburg, 146 

Southern boulevard, 104, 109 

Split Rock, 123-124, 127, 227 



273 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



274 



INDIAN PATHS 



Spring Creek, 171 

Springfield (N. J.), 205 

Spuyten Duyvil, 32, 75, 83, 95, 96, 225 

Spuyten Duyvil creek, 82, 83, 90, 102, 225 

Squam creek, 231 

Stapleton, 196, 235 

i1"?l TP ^TT"PPf~ il 

Staten Island, 50, 166, 187, 191, 197, 204 

Stepping Stones rocks, 185 

Strawn beach, see Strome beach 

Strikers bay, 62, 63. See Ninety-sixth street 

Strome beach, 159, 160, 164 

Strome kill, 158, 159, 161, 162, 228 

Stuyvesant, Governor, 60 

Stuyvesant street, 60 

Suffern, 202 

Sunset Park, 142, 238 

Sunwick, Sunwicks, Sunswicks, 238 

Sunwick creek, 175 

Sussex county (N. J.), 205 

Sutter avenue, 153 

Suwiran, a sachem, 153 

Swamp, The, 44 

Tackapoosa, son of Mechowodt, 182 

Tappan, 188 

Taquemack, 93 

Tarry town, 92 

Ten Farms of Eastchester, 121 

Tenth avenue, 86 

Tenth street, west (Kings), 163 

Tenth ward (Kings), 137, 230 

Tetard's hill, 91, 92 

Teunissen, Tobias, 94-95 

Third avenue,. 65, 66, 70, 103, 109 

Third avenue (Kings), 142, 169, 238 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX 



Third street (Kings), 140 

Thirtieth street, 65 

Thirty-first street, east (Kings), 148 

Thirty-second street, 66 

Thirty-fifth street (Kings), 144 

Thirty-seventh street, 65 

Thirty-seventh street (Kings), 142, 143 238 

Thirty-eighth street, 66 

Thirty-eighth street (Kings), 238 

Thirty-ninth street, 65 

Thoreau, 194, 233 

Throgs Neck, 112, 223, 224, 236 

Throgs Neck road, 112, 236 

Tiebout farm, 64 

Tippett family, 97-98, 101 

Tippett's brook, 90 

Titus Mill-pond, 127 

Tooker, W. W., 43, 126, 135, 173, 175, 177, 227 

229. 230, 232, 235, 236 
Tottenville, 190, 194, 233 
Town Dock road, 112 
Trains Meadow, 177 
Trains Meadow road, 177 
Transverse road, 71. See Ninety-seventh 

street 
Travisville, 193 
Trimble avenue, 177 
Tubby hook, 80, 235 
Tunissens neck, 192, 232 
Turner, Claude L., 116 
Turtle Bay, 66, 67 
Tuynier, Pieter, 85 
Twelfth street, east, 60 
Twelfth street, east (Kings), 164 
Twentieth avenue (Kings), 167 
Twentieth street (Kings), 167 



275 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



276 



INDIAN PATHS 



Twenty-first avenue (Kings), 156 

Twenty-third street, 65 

Twenty-fifth street, east (Kings), 158 

Twenty-sixth street, 65 

Twenty-sixth street, east (Kings), 147 

Twenty-eighth street, 65 

Twenty-ninth street, 66 

Twin islands, 125, 227 

Two Hundred First street, 225 

Two Hundred Fourth street, 84, 87 

Two Hundred Seventh street, 84, 86 

Two Hundred Eighth street, 225 

Two Hundred Ninth street, 85, 225 

Two Hundred Twelfth street, 85, 225 

Two Hundred Thirteenth street, 225 

Two Hundred Seventeenth street, 119 

Two Hundred Eighteenth street, 86 

Two Hundred Nineteenth street, 225 

Two Hundred Twenty-fifth street, 82, 86, 102 

Two Hundred Twenty-eighth street, 119 

Two Hundred Thirty-first street, 90, 91, 98, 

225 
Two Hundred Thirty-second street, 97 
Two Hundred Thirty-third street, 119 
Two Hundred Thirty-fourth street, 92 
Two Hundred Thirty-fifth street, 97 
Two Hundred Thirty-eighth street, 92, 96 
Two Hundred Forty-second street, 92 
Two Hundred Forty-fourth street, 94 
Two Hundred Forty-fifth street, 97 
Two Hundred Forty-seventh street, 94 
Two Hundred Sixtieth street, 94 

Unami Dela wares, 188 
Underhill, Captain John, 152 
Union avenue, 192, 234 



INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX 277 



Unionport, 113 
Unionport road, 114, 115 
United States reservation, 231 
United States Ship Canal, 86 
University avenue, 103 
University Heights, 226 
Upper bay, 198 

Upper cove, 231. See Peltons cove 
Utrecht. 163. See New Utrecht 

Valentine avenue, 103 

Valentine-Briggs farmhouse, 103 

Valeyen, 70 

Valley grove, 147 

Valley Stream, 38, 229 

Valley Stream road, 180 

Van Brunt lane, 169 

Van Corlaer, Jacobus, 156 

Van Cortlandt, Frederick, 93, 94, 226 

Van Cortlandt avenue, 117 

Van Cortlandt Park, 92, 226 

Vanderbeeck, Paulus, 143 

Vanderbilt avenue (Kings), 147 

Van der Donck, 101 

Vandeveer Park, 151 

Van Werckhoven, Cornelis, 168, 169 

Van Wyck, Frederick, 152 

Varian homestead, 117 

Varkens Hook road, 150 

Verrazano, 33 

Vredendal, or "Quiet Vale", 75 

Wading place, 31, 39, 86, 87, 88, 90 
Wakefield, 119 
Wallabout, 133, 134, 136, 153 
Wallabout bay, 134, 135, 230 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



278 


l 
INDIAN PATHS 




Wallboght, 135 




Wall street, 52 




Walton avenue, 108 




Wampage, 124 




Wandowenock, 175 




Wappinger, 40, 92 




Ward point, 194, 195, 233 




Warren street (Kings), 137, 139 




Washington bridge, 107, 226 




Washington Heights, 75, 77 




Washington square, 60 




Washington street, 58 




Watchogue, 192, 232 




Watchogue road, 192 




Watchung mountains (N. J.), 202 




Waverly place, 60 




Webster avenue, 118 




Weckquaesgeek, 41, 57, 95, 240 




Weir creek, 112, 113, 224 




Werpoes, Werpos (Manhattan), 43, 48. 49, 




50, 53, 57, 199, 220 




Werpoes hill, 134 




Werpos, Worpus (Brooklyn), 50, 137, 138. 




139, 141, 230 




Wessels brook, 176. See Ludovics brook 




Wessels mill, 177 




Westchester, 98, 100, 102, 110, 111, 112, 120, 




121, 122, 226, 240 




Westchester avenue, 109, 110. 114. 115 




Westchester bridge, 112 




Westchester county, 185, 227 




Westchester creek, 112, 113, 223 




Westchester path, 21, 31, 98, 101, 102, 07, 




110, 116 




Westchester road, 109. See Westchester ave-, 




nue 




INDIAN NOTES 



INDEX 



Westchester-Eastchester path, 241 

Western avenue, 192 

West Farms, 106 

West Farms road, 109, 111 

Westminster Heights Park, 151 

West New Brighton, 191, 231 

White, A. T., 158 

Whitehall street, 51, 52 

Whitehead, W. A., 205 

White Plains road, 111, 118 

Whitestone, 172 

Wickquaskeek, Wickguaskeek, 32, 76 

Williamsbridge, 30, 100, 101, 118, 240 

Williamsbridge reservoir, 117 

Williamsbridge road, 103 

Williamsburg, 145-146 

Willis avenue, 108 

Willow avenue, 174 

Winippague, 151, 152, 154, 228. See Bergen 

beach 
Winthrop, 37 
Wolf's lane, 123 
Woodbridge (N. J.), 197 
Woodhaven, 179 
Woodhull, 180 
Woodlawn cemetery, 118 
Wood Point road, 146 
Woodrow, 194, 233 
Wood, Silas, 129 
Woods of Arden, 195, 234 
Wort farm, 194 
Worth street, 49, 220 



279 



AND MONOGRAPHS 



280 


INDIAN PATHS 




Wrights island, 223 
Wyckoff street, 139 

Yellow hook, 168 
Yonkers, 38, 92; 94, 95, 226 
Y'ork street, 133 

Zeregas neck, 223 




INDIAN NOTES 



INDIAN NOTES 



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